Verified Document

The Armenian Genocide Resolution Essay

United States President Barack Obama had made a promise during the 2008 presidential elections that he would state the actions that Turkey committed in 1915 were an act of genocide against the Armenian people. However, every year since that promise, President Obama has broken it, always avoiding offending Turkey in order to keep their NATO ally happy and fighting alongside the United States. This is because not only is Turkey the only Muslim majority nation in NATO, making it a more important ally than Armenia, but it the country also has the second-biggest military in NATO (the first being the United States). As the battle in Syria wages on, and ISIS continues to grow along with problems arising in other parts of the Middle East like Iran, the United States is looking to do anything to keep Turkey on their side. What is left is then a broken promise to show an evident genocide perpetrated by a country in complete denial. Hillary Clinton, another presidential candidate that made the same kind of promise as Obama did, just shows the flagrant hypocrisy that plagues American politics, especially during presidential election season. While it is to some extent understandable that America does not and perhaps cannot recognize the Armenian genocide at this time, it is the way they make it seem like it is a possibility that angers activists and those that with Armenian ancestry. It is one thing when someone does not recognize something as evil as a genocide took place, but when someone, several recognize it, and vow to acknowledge it as president, that is another story.

Essentially what happens is, year after year, Obama raises the hopes of those that wish Turkey would own responsibility for the genocide by simply having the United States acknowledge, forcing Turkey to do the same. However, after each year passes, even on its 100th anniversary, nothing changed. Their hopes were dashed and the President looked like a hypocrite and liar. It makes people believe Obama and Clinton for that matter, said these things to gain supporters and campaign money to vie for presidency.

This was clear...

To argue that the country's common morality as well as credibility as a voice for preservation of human rights means the country, the President, and Congress should recognize the Armenian genocide was all for votes and support may not be much of a stretch. In July 2010, Clinton, what many considered at the time Washington's top diplomat, paid a visit to the genocide memorial in Yerevan.
She was presented with a golden opportunity to say what happened to lead to the building of this memorial and she did the opposite, making the State Department refer to the visit as a 'private' one. What happened next was even more disappointing. Clinton lobbied Congress to make sure the genocide resolution would never make it to the House floor. Two years later, when asked about the obvious show of side-stepping, Clinton showed why she and President Obama chose to never utter the words. Going back again to the alliance with Turkey being more important than any relationship or alliance with Armenia and the descendants of the Armenians that survived the genocide. "No U.S. president has ever made genocide prevention a priority, and no U.S. president has ever suffered politically for his indifference to its occurrence. It is thus no coincidence that genocide rages on" (Tapper, 2015).

Along with wanting to keep Turkey happy, politics and Congress leaned away from the genocide issue just as they had widely accepted recognizing it when Clinton harked her support for the genocide resolution.

By using the label genocide to refer to the killings of Armenians when she was a senator from New York, Clinton was in keeping with many members of Congress. A resolution to recognize the systematic killing of ethnic Armenians by the Ottoman Empire has become a regular event in Congress (Wafford, 2015).

Kind of like how when popular kids in school say something is trendy and everyone starts copying them, wearing the trendy items. When the popular kids say it is no longer cool to wear those items, anyone caught wearing them is considered in the 'outs' in the school. That is a bit like Clinton and Obama in the…

Sources used in this document:
References

Hovannisian, R. (1992). The Armenian genocide. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Lakoff, G. (2008). The Political Mind: Why You Can't understand 21st-century Politics with an 18-th century brain. New York: Viking.

Tapper, J. (2015). Obama again breaks promise on Armenian genocide. CNN. Retrieved 13 May 2016, from http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/24/politics/armenia-genocide-obama-broken-promise-jake-tapper/

Wafford, T. (2015). HILLARY'S SHIFTING STANCE ON THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE. Newsweek.com. Retrieved 13 May 2016, from http://www.newsweek.com/hillarys-shifting-stance-armenian-genocide-324799
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Path Towards Handling the Atrocities of Armenian Genocide
Words: 1946 Length: 5 Document Type: Research Paper

Armenian Genocide is considered, often, as being the earliest major genocide that occurred in the last (20th) century. This incident also serves as an example of the cost of agreeing to impunity for these cruelties. The genocide in Armenia was symbolic in the longstanding history of worldwide criminal legal-structure development, particularly with regards to elaborating the genocide law. As discussed by Bloxham1, the Armenian genocide was on the mind of

Us and the Amerenian Genocide
Words: 1817 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Barak Obama recognize the Armenian Genocide? The killing of more than 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 by the erstwhile Ottoman Empire rulers in Turkey is one of the biggest mass murders in human history as recognized by many countries. The Turkish rulers intended to drive away all of the Armenians during the time of the first world war to establish their supremacy, especially over the businesses that the Armenians held

International Law & Rights
Words: 2643 Length: 8 Document Type: Chapter

BIOS of Authors The author of this report will be writing short biography summaries for seventeen different authors and pundits within the transitional justice scholarly sphere. About a third to half a page will be dedicated each. The names involved include William Schabas, Ryn Slyle and Dapo Akande. The background, ethnicity and famous works (if any) will be given for each. While there are varying beliefs and backgrounds with the

City Diplomacy: The Increasing Role
Words: 18927 Length: 69 Document Type: Research Proposal

The goals at which this process is aimed can concentrate on creating benefits primarily for one party or on creating benefits for both parties.' (van der Pluijm and Melissen, 2007, p.1) Multiple-sided city diplomacy is a "diplomatic process in which more than two parties are involved, representing various cities." (van der Pluijm and Melissen, 2007, p.1) van der Pluijm and Melissen state that associations of municipalities "such as United Cities

Peacekeeping in the Caucuses History
Words: 5034 Length: 16 Document Type: Thesis

Still, the relationship with Russia also bears importance. After the disintegration of the U.S.S.R. back in 1991, the post communist policy regarding the former soviet satellite countries had set in motion the Community of Independent States, as a mechanism for maintaining political, economic and trade relations between the countries of the demised Union. Such an influence is still felt today, at the regional level, Russia acting from a dominant

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now