COMMENTARY: U.S. Must Recognize Armenian Genocide Despite Denial, Threats by Turkey

On March 4, 2010, the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee voted in favor of recognizing Armenian claims of genocide by Ottoman Turks during World War I. Some one and one-half million Armenians were murdered by Ottoman Turks between 1914 and 1918.

To the present day, Turkey has denied that this genocide ever occurred. On the other hand, most historians agree that the Armenian genocide did indeed occur.

Although the Armenian genocide occurred nearly 100 years ago, the U.S. has still not recognized its occurrence. The vote by the House Foreign Affairs Committee this week is a positive first step that may well lead to U.S. recognition.

The next crucial step is for the full House of Representatives to vote in favor of U.S. recognition of the Armenian genocide. Yet, the opposition continues to put pressure on House members by various means -- some of which are unethical -- in order to defeat this resolution. For example, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is diligently using her influence in an effort to prevent the subcommittee agreement on the Armenian genocide from even reaching discussion by the full House of Representatives, thus automatically defeating it.

Legally, this is not a decision that Clinton can make, and she should not be pressuring House members to make. When or if the full House votes on this matter is a decision that must be made by Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House. In fact, Rep. Pelosi is in favor of U.S. recognition of the Armenian genocide.

You may be asking yourself, Why has the U.S. failed to recognize the Armenian genocide for nearly 100 years? The answer is simple: Fear of retaliation from Turkey.

When the House subcommittee voted to recognize the Armenian genocide this week, Turkey became so furious that it immediately called its U.S. ambassador to return to Turkey. Obviously, this was a ploy by Turkey, in order to incite fear of ending Turkish-American diplomatic relations, so that the full U.S. House would vote not to recognize the Armenian genocide.

Turkey has warned the U.S. of dire consequences if the full House of Representatives votes to recognize the Armenian genocide. Needless to say, some of these threats by Turkey border on being blackmail.

Turkey's strategic location in the Middle East has made it an important ally of the United States -- currently in fighting its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. On the other hand, Armenia is a much smaller country with very little strategic value as far as the U.S. is concerned.

This is a sad situation, because it clearly illustrates how geopolitics has prevailed over human values for nearly a century, insofar as the U.S. is concerned. The U.S. is considered by many people to be the moral leader of the world, but this situation certainly contradicts that view.

At least 20 countries have officially recognized the Armenian genocide. These include Russia, Germany, Italy, Greece, Poland, Argentina, and Lebanon, among others. Several International organizations -- such as the World Council of Churches and the Council of Europe -- have also recognized it.

As a result of the U.S. House subcommittee vote to recognize the Armenian genocide, America now has an ideal opportunity to correct its international priorities by placing humanity before politics. We hope and pray that America's recognition of the Armenian genocide will indeed become a reality in the very near future.