Posted on 04/19/2015 1:20:02 PM PDT by SoConPubbie
Cruz: "The Massacre of the Armenian, Assyrian, and other Christian People Should be Called what it is: Genocide"
WASHINGTON--Republican Presidential Candidate, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on April 18 marked the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide with a statement calling for the proper recognition of the massacre of Armenian, Assyrian, and other Christian peoples as genocide, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
Republican Presidential Candidate, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas)
Cruz's statement, addressed to the Armenian Church of Austin, was read on the south steps of the Texas State Capitol, during the Austin Peace March and Rally, an observance attended by thousands and organized by the Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee of Texas.
"Senator Cruz got it right," said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. "As Americans, we cannot be silent. We must speak the truth. His remarks highlight the Armenian Genocide gag-rule that Ankara continues to enforce on the U.S. government, and spotlight the stark choice facing President [Barack] Obama this April 24: to reject or enforce Turkey's veto on our nation's Armenian Genocide policy."
Prior to his election to the oval office, Obama was clear and unequivocal in his pledge to properly characterize the murder of over 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children from 1915-23 by the Ottoman Turkish government as genocide. "quot;The facts are undeniable. An official policy that calls on diplomats to distort the historical facts is an untenable policy. As a senator, I strongly support passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106 and S.Res.106), and as President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide," stated then Senator Obama in a Jan. 19, 2008, statement. The full text of that statement is available at here.
Since his election in 2008, Obama has yet to honor that pledge. A complete record of Senator Obama's statements on the Armenian Genocide prior to his election to the White House is availablehere.
The full text of Senator Cruz's statement is provided below.
***
Senator Ted Cruz
United States Senate
April 18, 2015
Armenian Church of Austin
In Recognition of the Armenian Genocide
One hundred years ago, the world was too silent as the Armenian people suffered a horrific genocide. Today, we commemorate more than a million souls who were extinguished by the Ottoman Government. Let the terrors of those events awaken in us the courage to always stand for freedom against evil forces. As Pope Francis rightly said, "Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it."
The massacre of the Armenian, Assyrian and other Christian people should be called what it is: genocide.
Sadly, many today are still unaware of this 20th century atrocity. We cannot neglect the brutality carried out on these innocent souls because we cannot leave any room for them to occur again. If we forget the annals of history, we will not honor those who suffered in the death camps of the Holocaust, Soviet Union, Cambodia, and many others. That is a tragedy we can and should prevent.
As the Russian novelist and Soviet prisoner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn reflected, "In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand fold in the future."
I commend your efforts to illuminate the past, and to prevent such injustice from occurring again, whether in your homeland or in any country around the globe. Thank you for your commitment to speaking the truth in love.
May God bless the Armenian people, and may he continue to bless America.
Sincerely, Ted Cruz United States Senator
Never preface a decision about doing the right thing, ESPECIALLY, when it comes to murder by asking if it is worth the fight!
If we were talking about righting a wrong with the murderers, I’d agree with you. These are the murderers’ grandchildren.
I doubt if I’ve revealed more than I intended. I’ve said essentially the same thing here several times before.
I was opposed to this 25 years ago when alienating an ally over something done by their grandparents seemed silly.
Turkey has lost its secularization and is biting the Islamist creed as government policy today. I could care less if we make some offending statement about their grandparents today.
But. There are geopolitical considerations. Incirlik is still an important base. And the people we would rightfully accuse of murder are long dead.
“Would you say the same thing about the Holocaust?
Would you say the same thing about Slavery?
Is it not important to keep the lessons of history forefront so that they are not suffered through again?”
Of course you have a point.
Is it important to keep our base there? Is it important to keep the resources in place that could well protect countless American lives, today?
Decisions. Decisions. Part of statecraft is knowing where to take your stands.
I think it’s a wash, today.
I certainly don’t fault Senator Cruz from taking the stand he took.
“Christian women and teenagers is pretty important to me. I’m alive in 2015.”
You make a great argument for slave reparations. Can you tell me how your argument wouldn’t apply equally to THAT issue?
At what point is the past in the past? One generation? Three?
The U.S. government has skirted this issue for over half a century. There are reasons for that, none of which have much to do with the current President.
There will be consequences to our current foreign policy and strategic deployment to address an issue we’ve studiously ignored as a nation for two generations now. We’ve ignored those issues because we’ve decided that the geopolitical fallout wasn’t worth digging up bones.
Maybe they are worth addressing now.
How ironic that your tag line says, “Choose sides.”
Clearly you’ve chosen.
I agree with the poster that said you told more about yourself with your comments than you probably meant to. Shameful.
From a geopolitical standpoint, it is important to keep issues like the Holocaust and Slavery on the front burner to prevent a repeat. Never again.
That investment is designed to save lives.
Keeping our geopolitical status quo in Turkey is designed to keep America in a position to save lives.
Which has the potential to save more lives?
Rightfully accusing long dead murderers of their crimes doesn’t mean much to me. I don’t see it as some great moral stand: those crimes still happened and the perps are still long dead.
The moral issue for me is which path will save more lives, today. As I said, it’s much more of a wash today than in the recent past. Turkey isn’t the same nation it was when I was there, a mere 25 years ago.
How many American lives are you willing to sacrifice to accuse long dead murderers of their deeds?
Is 10 acceptable?
1,000?
At the end of the day, that is the debate. How much is our base in Incirlik a worth in protecting American lives by being on the edge of a hot region?
Our govenment has skirted this issue so far because it believes that by doing so, it will save those lives.
If we condemn Turkey, they force us to withdraw, and five years from now 2,000 Americans die because we didn’t have the strategic capacity to prevent it, are you OK with your moral stand?
It’s more cloudy an issue than you imagine.
The difference between the Armenian Genocide issue and the slave reperations issue is that everyone agrees that slavery was evil and that evil things were done. The Turks refuse to agree that what their country did was evil. While I do not support slavery reperations, I certainly do support having history books that tell the truth about the evil of slavery.
Geopolitically, now that the cold war is over I think we would be much better served by supporting (1) the Greek Megali Idea (including the restoration of Constantinople as an Orthodox Christian Capitol, (2) the creation of a greater Armenia and (3) the creation of a greater Kurdistan. Then we can consign Turkey to the dustbin of history.
Yes it is worth any cost. Continued silence is continued approval.
Perfect.
That will require far more changes to our foreign policy positions than recognizing the Genocide will induce.
Our treasonous State Department refuses to speak against heinous crimes against Christians that are occurring as we sit here. There seems to be a pattern.
In all considerations, truth has to come first.
Calling Turkey, or Greece allies has always been based in delusion. Of course Armenia is also of little reverence as a nation, but Armenian immigrants have been reliable citizens, and insulting them is folly.
Its nice to have a truth reference available in the thread when a shill for tyranny pops up his head.
Thanks!
I was stationed in Turkey in the late 80's. This is a big deal to them because Ataturk was in power then and accusing their George Washington of genocide is fighting words.WRONG. Ataturk didn't come to power until after the Armenian Genocide. The Islamofascists are upset about this because the Armenian Genocide was carried out by the Ottoman caliphate.
The Senate considered a resolution rebuking Turkey for this while I was there.President Reagan referred to the Armenian genocide as genocide -- but that didn't stop the Demagogic Party majority in Congress from passing a resolution in 1984, just as it had in 1975 (when a different Republican was in the White House), and again tried in 2007, when another Republican was President.
...our base in Incirlik is just as important as ever.Not least to the Turks. No matter what kind of loudmouthed garbage Erdogan and his fellow Islamofascists holler, the fact is Turkey can't afford to have the US pull out.
Is it worth this fight to address a 110 year old wrong? To me it's like asking for slave reparations.What fight? What reparations? It would be a resolution, and wouldn't result in reparations to anyone.
The irony of course is that Ataturk fought for the secularization and modernization of Turkey......and did so AFTER the Armenian Genocide.
Of course — two or three African massacres ago (a couple weeks) Zero took the time to complain about the intolerance of Christianity.
My pleasure.
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