I know why the issue has come before Congress. The American-Armenian community has been campaigning for the acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide for most of the last century. They have finally gotten their message through to Congress.

Most of you know little to nothing of The Armenian Genocide for the simple reason that the Turkish government has had standing, extensive, and very expensive campaign to keep the issue out of our public dialog. Our govt needed Turkey's cooperation during the cold war,and continues to need it today, so we have not disagreed with Turkey's position on the issue.

I have, at times in the past, worked extensively with the Armenian-American community, and have met and talked with survivors of the genocides. There is a pall that hangs over their communities that is perhaps even darker than the one that hangs over Jewish communities, because their loss has had to be born alone. Til now, there has been an all pervasive denial of their loss. Even worse, any attempt at public dialog, even a simple letter to a newspaper, was met with immediate reaction from the Turkish Government. They simply want recognition.

Why is this still a hot political issue today? Armenian was engaged in a war for independence from the Ottoman Empire, territories were drawn up in WWI related treaties, and there are issues related to those treaties that are still in dispute today. For Turkey, acknowledging the Genocide
could jeopardize borders and territorial claims, and weaken their battle with Kurdish seperatists.

The problems created by the collapse of the Ottoman Empire continue to plague us, from Palestine to Iran--and will, for a long time.