Diaspora

Diaspora

Armenian Diaspora in US starts new campaign to bring 1915 events on agenda

08 July 2011 10:18 (UTC +04:00)

Washington. Isabel Levine â€“ APA. No matter how hot and lazy the summer is in the Capital and most of the US government offices went on summer vocation, the Azerbaijani, Turkish and Armenian Diasporas nonetheless grow more active, APAâ€™s Washington DC correspondent reports.

The reason is that the Armenian Diaspora started a new campaign to bring the 1915 events on the US agenda. â€œEnd Turkeyâ€™s gag ruleâ€ says the campaign, and in it Armenians claim to â€œspeak in America’s name in defense of human rightsâ€

â€œSadly, a foreign country has placed a gag-rule on our nation’s (US) recognition of the Armenian Genocide â€“ using threats and intimidation to block legislation that simply alls upon us all to apply the lessons of this atrocity to help prevent future crimes against humanityâ€, say Armenians in their new campaign letter that they send to the government officials, media and civil society.

To protest this action a number of Azeri and Turkish Diaspora organizations are going to establish their own campaign, Araz Kerimov, Azeri Diaspora member in Maryland, told APA.

â€œIf there is anyone who is trying to involve foreign interests in US politics â€“ this is the Armenian Diaspora. All we want is justice and normalcyâ€, he added.

Kerimov said the Azeri and Turkish Diasporas will send letters with historical explanations of the 1915 events to the respective agencies: â€œA number of publications on this topic and also on the tragedy in Khojaly is planned during this summerâ€, he added.

Kerimov said that on July 13 the US Senate panel is going to consider a US Ambassador to Armenia nominee to Armenia Mr. John A. Heffern. â€œWe are going to keep a close eye on that panelâ€, he said.