Hye Sharzhoom Armenian Action
Staff Report
As Henry Morgenthau, the United States Ambassador to Turkey in 1915, said “When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these deportations, they were merely giving the death warrant to a whole race; they understood this well, and, in their conversations with me, they made no particular attempt to conceal the fact.”
Despite these words, it has taken more than one hundred years for a President to recognize the Genocide. On April 24, 2021, President Joe Biden kept the promise he made as a candidate, reaffirming America’s record as the foremost voice in the world for human rights. By recognizing the events of 1915 as Genocide, President Biden emphasized the value of upholding human rights despite Turkey’s persistent campaign of denial.
This declaration affirms America’s history as witness to the Genocide, as well as a haven for Genocide survivors. For Armenian-Americans, a declaration of genocide is not just about officially recognizing the truth, but also about providing much needed resolution to the decades of silence and denial that they have faced from the Republic of Turkey, perpetuating the trauma inflicted in 1915.
President Biden should now hold the Republic of Turkey accountable for the Armenian Genocide, and thus demonstrate that truth does matter in world politics. The United States has been a beacon of hope throughout the world for those oppressed by their own governments and the defense of human rights has historically been a central tenet of United States foreign policy.
Though the wounds will not fully heal until the Republic of Turkey acknowledges the crime, President Biden’s declaration is a powerful blow against Genocide denialism throughout the world.
Statement by President Joe Biden on Armenian Remembrance Day-
April 24, 2021
Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring. Beginning on April 24, 1915, with the arrest of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople by Ottoman authorities, one and a half million Armenians were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths in a campaign of extermination. We honor the victims of the Meds Yeghern so that the horrors of what happened are never lost to history. And we remember so that we remain ever-vigilant against the corrosive influence of hate in all its forms.
Of those who survived, most were forced to find new homes and new lives around the world, including in the United States. With strength and resilience, the Armenian people survived and rebuilt their community. Over the decades Armenian immigrants have enriched the United States in countless ways, but they have never forgotten the tragic history that brought so many of their ancestors to our shores. We honor their story. We see that pain. We affirm the history. We do this not to cast blame but to ensure that what happened is never repeated.
Today, as we mourn what was lost, let us also turn our eyes to the future—toward the world that we wish to build for our children. A world unstained by the daily evils of bigotry and intolerance, where human rights are respected, and where all people are able to pursue their lives in dignity and security. Let us renew our shared resolve to prevent future atrocities from occurring anywhere in the world. And let us pursue healing and reconciliation for all the people of the world.
The American people honor all those Armenians who perished in the genocide that began 106 years ago today.