President Biden on Saturday recognized the Armenian Genocide, drawing resounding praise from local Armenian Americans and their elected officials.
Turkey, responsible for the sweeping mass killings during World War I which left 1.5 million Armenians dead, has long denied the genocide ever occurred.
State Senator Anthony Portantino said Biden’s declaration today ended “the decades-long gag-rule by Turkey against the United States.”
“By officially and properly recognizing and the Armenian Genocide, the United States has demonstrated that human rights, justice, and truth have prevailed,” Portantino said.
Pasadena Congressional Representative Adam Schiff said that “for Armenian Americans and everyone who believes in human rights and the truth, today marks an historic milestone: President Biden has defied Turkish threats and recognized the slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians for what it was – the first genocide of the 20th Century. In so doing, he has cast aside decades of shameful silence and half-truths, and the broken promises of so many of his predecessors, and spoken truth to power.”
“This is a momentous day for thousands upon thousands of my Armenian-American constituents who have been working, advocating, and praying for recognition for their entire lives – and I am heartened that this announcement comes at a time when there are still some genocide survivors alive to witness it, though their numbers are very small. It also comes at a time of new dangers to the Armenian people, after Azerbaijan and Turkey made war on the people of Artsakh.”
“As we commemorate the 106th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, we can now do so now, secure in the knowledge that our nation, both the President and the Congress, speak with one voice,” Schiff said.
In an email Saturday after Biden’s declaration, former Pasadena Mayor Bill Paparian looked ahead.
“Until the Turkish government recognizes the Armenian Genocide, makes reparations, and returns our homes, and property, the struggle of the Armenian people continues,” he said.
More than 200,000 people of Armenian descent live in Los Angeles
County, making the Southland home to the largest Armenian community outside of
Armenia.
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