- White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany referred to the “Armenian Genocide” on Monday, which went against the official position of the United States government on the atrocities that took place during World War I.
- McEnany referred to a “Armenian Genocide Memorial” as a site that was recently trashed during Monday’s press conference.
- Armenia has long said that 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a genocide by the Ottoman Empire (from which current Turkey arose) in 1915 during World War I.
- The Turkish government has vehemently rejected this characterization, dismissing the killings as a disorderly aspect of the war.
- In an effort to avoid angering Turkey, a NATO ally, the United States government has generally referred to the killings as “mass atrocities,” without actually calling it “genocide.”
- McEnany’s comments on Monday could put President Donald Trump in an awkward position with the Turkish government.
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White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany made reference to the Armenian genocide during Monday’s press conference, in a move that goes against the official stance of the United States government and could put President Donald Trump in a uncomfortable position with the Turkish government.
McEnany referred to a “Armenian Genocide Memorial” by citing monuments and monuments that were recently smashed amid protests across the country over racism and police brutality. A sculpture reminiscent of the victims of the Armenian Genocide was smashed in Denver in May, Denverite reported.
“There appears to be a lack of understanding and historical knowledge when the Armenian Genocide Memorial, which remembers the victims of all crimes against humanity, including slavery, is shattered,” said McEnany.
The Trump administration has focused largely on the desecration of monuments in recent weeks, which has often involved the president defending symbols and memorials of the Confederacy and its leaders.
– Armenian Assembly (@ARAMAC_DC) July 6, 2020
A State Department spokesman referred Insider to the White House on whether the United States now formally recognizes the Armenian genocide.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider about whether the administration now recognizes the mass killings of Armenians during World War I as genocide.
The Turkish embassy in Washington also did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter.
“We appreciate that the Administration has noted that the Armenian Genocide memorial in Denver was vandalized and the need for a better understanding of historical knowledge,” Bryan Ardouny, executive director of the Armenian Assembly of America, an Armenian advocacy group- American based in Washington, DC, said in a statement provided to Insider. “This monument, dedicated to the centennial of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, commemorates the victims of all crimes against humanity.”
Armenia has long said that 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a genocide by the Ottoman Empire (from which current Turkey arose) in 1915 during World War I. Turkey has rejected the characterization of the massacre as “genocide”, dismissing it instead as a messy aspect of the war. The Turkish government also estimates that the death toll will approach 300,000.
The atrocity occurred when Turkey deported large numbers of Armenians from eastern Anatolia to the Syrian desert, and many died or died of disease or starvation along the way. It was a death march.
Scholars widely agree that what the Ottomans did to the Armenians in 1915 constitutes genocide.
All presidents since Jimmy Carter have made public statements in memory of the tragic events, and President Ronald Reagan in a 1981 Holocaust Remembrance Days proclamation made reference to the “Armenian Genocide”. But it has not been the official policy of the United States government to recognize it. Meanwhile, 49 US states and dozens of countries, including US allies like France, Germany, and Canada, recognize atrocities as genocide.
The United States government has consistently avoided referring to what happened to Armenians during World War I as “genocide” in an effort to avoid angering Turkey, a NATO ally that allowed the United States to store dozens of nuclear weapons at a Turkish air base.
The president’s statement on Armenia’s Day of Remembrance in April fell short of characterizing the First World War killings as “genocide,” referring to it as “one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century.” Trump’s statement was consistent with years of American policy designed to avoid tensions with Turkey. Former President Barack Obama also did not refer to the killings as “genocide.”
“President Donald Trump’s April 24 statement on the 105th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide does not hit the mark, encourages denial, and does not reflect the proud United States record of claiming genocide,” the Armenian Assembly of the United States said in April.
The Trump administration in late 2019 rejected bipartisan efforts in Congress to formally recognize the Armenian genocide, which angered Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In an October 2019 speech in the House on the resolution to recognize the Armenian Genocide, Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California said: “The facts of the genocide are horrible and indisputable by historians. They were recorded by US diplomats serving in the The Ottoman Empire at the time, who gave testimony in the official cables of the annihilation of the Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire, a crime that at that time had no name. “
Schiff fervently rejected valuing relations between the United States and Turkey rather than acknowledging history and speaking about crimes against humanity in precise terminology.
“We cannot choose which crimes against humanity are convenient to talk about. We cannot hide our support for human rights in euphemisms. We cannot be intimidated by a foreign power,” said Schiff.
President Donald Trump attends a bilateral meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan during the G20 Leaders Summit in Osaka, Japan on June 29, 2019.
Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
The history of the term “genocide” is intrinsically linked to the atrocities committed against the Armenians.
Trump’s statement on Armenia’s Day of Remembrance in 2019 referred to Raphael Lemkin, a lawyer of Polish Jewish origin who coined the term “genocide.”
Lemkin, who lost most of his family to the Holocaust during World War II, studied the atrocities against the Armenians closely and worked tirelessly to ensure that “genocide” was added to international law to prevent future massacres. He defined genocide as “a coordinated plan of different actions aimed at destroying the essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves.”
Tensions between the US and Turkey have reached historic heights in the Trump era, in large part due to Erdogan’s invasion of Syria and the attack on Kurdish forces allied by the US Trump was heavily criticized for Congressional lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in 2019 for withdrawing U.S. forces from northern Syria, paving the way for the Turkish military incursion.
