ADVOCACY

OPPOSE  HOUSE  RESOLUTION  106

NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE U.S. RECORD …..

The resolution states “ …to ensure that the foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented in the United States record relating to the Armenian Genocide….”

Significant parts of the United States record have been omitted from reference in the resolution.  Some examples:  

• Papers of Rear Admiral Mark Bristol, U.S. High Commissioner to the Ottoman Empire. Admiral Bristol’s papers (numbering around 33,000 items) can be found in various archives throughout the U.S. Government right here in Washington, D.C.  Unlike Ambassador Morgenthau, Admiral Bristol actually visited the region himself and made first-hand reports and tasked others to investigate and report as well. His reporting stands in sharp contrast to reports cited in the resolution and specifically call into question the Armenian claims. In his reports, he states …. “The Armenian reports are not true.”
• Reports of Lieutenant Robert Dunn, U.S. Naval Intelligence, High Commissioner’s Staff, provide first hand reporting of open rebellion and inter-communal violence.
• Statement of Secretary of State Robert Lansing  (November 1916) concerning the open rebellion of Armenians within the zone of military operations … “…constituted grounds more or less justifiable for compelling them to depart their homes.”
• Reports of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Furlong, U.S. Military Observer. He wrote in 1920, “We hear much, both truth and gross exaggeration of Turkish massacres of Armenians, but little or nothing of the Armenian massacres of Turks.”
• Report of Captain Emory Niles and Mr. Arthur Sutherland (1919), U.S. Government investigators in eastern Anatolia stated, “ In the region which we traversed, the Armenians committed upon the Turks all the crimes and outrages which were committed in other regions by Turks upon Armenians.. 

The complete record of the United States is not as one-sided as the resolution claims.  

This material is distributed by The Livingston Group, LLC on behalf of The Republic of Turkey.
Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.

Dear Friends,

Wednesday, August 11 will be the start of Ramazan, which will be followed by Seker Bayrami on September 9-11. As your Honorary Consul General, I wish anyone who will be fasting an easy fast.

Mona Tekin Diamond