Armenian-Americans… Joyless welcome of Biden’s genocide declaration
Armenian-Americans unhappily welcomed Joe Biden’s recognition of genocide, lamenting that the U.S. president did not put greater pressure on Turkey.
About 400 members of the community demonstrated in Washington Square in the Greenvillage neighborhood on Saturday to commemorate the Armenian genocide that coincided with the US President’s announcement.
Yvette Kevorkian , who took part in a march in New York City to commemorate the World War I-era killings, said: “It’s a halfway step because Biden didn’t mention Turkey.”
The 51-year-old, who arrived in the United States from Iran at the age of nine, added, “It’s a victory for all the time we’ve been working.”
The head of the Armenian Apostolic Church in the eastern United States, Anushavan Tanilian, who led the gathering, said : “We are grateful that our government has finally heard its voice.” He added: “We must act to prevent massacres or genocide in the future.”
“On the one hand there is a recognition of the Armenian genocide, but at the same time, it gives them the equipment and supports their army,” said Meher Janian, chairman of the U.S. Armenian National Committee, accusing some, the U.S. and other countries that previously recognized the genocide of playing a double game.
But he said it was still “a step on the road to the future for compensation and a good relationship with our neighbors”
Between 1915 and 1917 million Armenians were killed in the last days of the Ottoman Empire when the Armenian minority was suspected of conspiring with World War I foe Russia.
In New York, the community was concentrated in the heart of Manhattan but is now dispersed throughout the region, especially in the Bayside neighborhood of Brooklyn and northeast New Jersey. They still meet every year to commemorate the massacres.
New York Armenians born in Turkey
New York Armenians born in Turkey, Armenia, Iran, Syria, Lebanon or even the United States have different backgrounds but have a common history and are making efforts to preserve it.
They all grew up with the memory of the 1915 incidents relayed by the ancients.
Aram Bowen said he had heard from his family that the Ottoman soldiers had seriously cut off his head, while Annie Teruzian reported that her grandmother had told her how her mother and uncle had been slaughtered.
No mention of Turkey
Kevorkian said she recalls that in the United States : “People didn’t know what happened to the Armenians.”
The international community had since moved, she said, noting the contribution made by the Armenian-Kardashian family, whose most famous member of reality television had for years been calling on Kim to recognize genocide.
But the demonstrators did not lose sight of Biden speaking only of the Ottomans – all of whom felt the urge to even partially exempt Turkey.
Turkey is a strategic ally of the United States and a member of NATO.
Yvette Kevorkian lamented that “it’s just a small step because he didn’t mention Turkey.”
They all see Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan not only as an enemy but as a sort of heir to the genocidal Ottomans, supporting Azerbaijan during the recent conflict with Armenia over the fate of Nagorny Karabakh, AFP reported.
Aram Bowen said that mere “simple apologies” could be enough to normalize relations with Turkey. “Look what the Kurds have done,” he said, referring to the recognition by some of them of the role played by members of this nationalism in the 1915 massacres alongside the Ottomans.
But he quickly added that “Turkey will never recognize genocide. This will never happen.”
The battle continues. But Annie Tervizian points to the participation of groups of teenagers and young people who came in dozens to the gathering with signs and the Armenian flag.
