U.S. groups denounce Turkish government’s continued policy of denial of genocide of 1915

WASHINGTON – Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek organizations active in the United States of America criticized the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government’s renewed attempts to deny the credibility of the genocides committed by the Ottoman Empire against Christian peoples between 1915-1923 when more than three million innocent civilians were killed or displaced.

On 16 June, the Communications Directorate of the Turkish government met with the office of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a closed meeting to discuss the government’s policy regarding the genocides which took place a century ago. According to the Armenian-American Asbarez website, the meeting lasted for five hours and included the Supreme Consultative Council headed by the Turkish President.

The Armenian National Committee for the Western American Region, American Assyrian Association in Southern California, Center for Assyrian Extermination and Research, Center for Greek Genocide Resources, Hellenic American Leadership Council, and the Israeli-American Network for Civil Action denounced the Turkish policy of denial.

A joint statement released by the organizations declared that, “Despite the massive documentation of historians and condemnation by more than 30 countries around the world, Turkey seeks to obstruct a just international solution for this crime that remained without punishment.”

“These aforementioned organizations renew their call on to all, to support and ensure the protection of the universal human rights to combat the denial of the ethnic genocide, as well as the commitment to expose the ethnic cleansing genocides. In addition to confronting the denial wherever it occurs and empowering societies that have suffered or are still suffering from any genocide,” the statement added.