Decades of Waiting End as the U.S. Recognizes the Armenian Genocide

Congressman Adam Schiff, with other dignitaries, address a group of Armenian supporters and media representatives in front of Burbank City Hall on Saturday following the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by President Biden.
Photo by Mary O’KEEFE

By Mary O’KEEFE

“At long last, the truth. Thank God.”

Those were the words Congressman Adam Schiff shared at an event on Saturday, April 24 celebrating the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by President Joe Biden.

“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,” read a statement by President Joe Biden on Armenian Remembrance Day.

This official recognition by the United States of the Armenian Genocide has been requested by so many for so long and until Saturday had not been realized.

Schiff addressed those at Saturday’s event.

“I am grateful you never gave up hope, that you never lost faith, you never stopped trying after disappointment after bitter disappointment to call out the best in this country, to ask us to live up to our ideals, to be once again the champion of human rights. You have made us a better country, and we are grateful,” Schiff said.

He thanked President Biden for his “willingness to speak truth to power, your willingness to honor your commitment.”

“A commitment that so many other Presidents had made as candidates,” Schiff said. “You are a man of your word. We are proud of what you have done today.”

Representatives Judy Chu, Tony Cardenas and Jimmy Gomez were at the event; all have been long time supporters of the Genocide recognition. They were joined by California State Senator Anthony Portantino and Assemblymember Laura Friedman, local government representatives from Burbank City and school district and Los Angeles Supervisor Kathryn Barger.

The speakers shared how long the journey was for this recognition and how important it is to remain vigilant especially after the recent six-week war between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

“There are those who want to forget what happened to the Armenian people,” Chu said. “They want to brush it aside.” She added to do that would be an insult to the one and a half million lives lost in the Armenian Genocide and would “give comfort to those responsible.”

The government of Turkey continues to deny that the Genocide occurred, but the history of the struggles of the Armenian Genocide was shared by Nora Hovsepian, chair of the Armenian National Committee of America.

“After 106 years of persistent struggle, the Armenian community has finally reached a tremendous milestone on the road to justice,” Hovsepian said. “I think I can speak for virtually every Armenian American when I say today feels like a huge weight has been finally lifted from our shoulders, a heavy burden we have all borne our entire lives, which has been passed down through generations by our grandparents who came to these shores as orphans having lost their entire families.”

She spoke of how long Armenian Americans have been fighting for this recognition, a recognition that was given by 29 other countries including France, Germany, Russia, Italy and the Vatican City, according to the Armenian National Institute.

“There have been glimmers of hope along the way. In 1981, for example, [President] Ronald Reagan uttered the words ‘genocide’ during a holocaust remembrance event. Alas it did not become official U.S. policy. Next came recognition by 49 of the 50 states, all of them calling for the federal government to do the same; still it did not happen. In 2019, the near unanimous Congressional recognition of the Armenian Genocide in both the House and Senate finally altered the course of United States policy, at least [from] the legislation branch, and for which we are so grateful,” she said.

She thanked Schiff and others who have kept this issue alive year after year, and added that they came close to recognition without getting it.

“Until today,” she said.

She praised the President who, for years, had been a strong proponent for recognition and as vice president had attended the 100-year memorial service at the national cathedral.

“[Biden] pledged last year to support Armenian Genocide Recognition, like many other candidates before him; he actually took the bold step in doing the right thing by rejecting Turkey’s gag rule, disengaging the United States from Turkey’s ongoing campaign of denial and delivering to us such a hard-fought and long-awaited victory on the road to justice,” Hovsepian said.

Supervisor Barger, who represents the fifth district of Los Angeles County, said hearing the news that the President had recognized the Armenian Genocide was emotional.

“It has been a long hard-fought battle. Each year we think we are going to get closer, each year I stand in solidarity with my Armenian brothers and sisters, and each year I get a letter from Turkey threatening me,” Barger said. “I will not be bullied. I stand tall with you.”

Burbank Unified School Board Representative Emily Weisberg spoke of how important it was to continue to support education of the Genocide.

“As a member of the Jewish community, this month we also recognized Holocaust Remembrance Month. I speak from experience when I say that the only way that healing can begin is when we recognize that a wrong has been committed. It is when perpetrators admit the wrong they have done that you can begin to heal,” she said. “[We will] continue to educate because never again means all of us.”