Adam Schiff: Turkish PM's comments add new measure of cruelty towards Genocide survivors and their families

March 26, 2010 - 11:40 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - US Congressman Adam Schiff issued a statement on Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Ergogan's threat to expel Armenians from Turkey.

"Prime Minister Erdogan's outrageous threat to expel Armenians from Turkey as punishment for the House Foreign Affairs Committee's recent markup of my Armenian Genocide commemoration resolution is the latest example of a longstanding policy of using Armenians as "human shields" in Ankara's campaign of genocide denial," Rep. Schiff said.

"Ninety-five years after Ottoman troops force marched hundreds of thousands of Armenians through the desert and to their deaths, Erdogan's comments add a new measure of cruelty towards the survivors and their families," he added.

The Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres and deportations, involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.

Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize this crime against humanity.

The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, Italy, 45 U.S. states, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Argentina, Belgium, Austria, Wales, Switzerland, Canada, Poland, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, the Vatican, Luxembourg, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Sweden, Venezuela, Slovakia, Syria, Vatican, as well as the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.