Washington briefing: White House responds to congressional letter on Armenia policy

by Emil Sanamyan

Published: Thursday October 01, 2009

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Washington - The Obama White House responded to 81 members of Congress more than six weeks after their letter raised concerns about the United States' Armenia-Turkey policy, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) reported this week.

In that letter members of Congress urged President Barack Obama to "separate the issues" of normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations and recognition of the Armenian Genocide. During his presidential campaign, Mr. Obama had promised repeatedly that he would recognize the Genocide as president.

The response letter, signed by National Security Advisor Gen. Jim Jones and dated September 17, did not directly address that request by members of Congress.

Instead the Jones letter repeated President Obama's comments last April that avoided the use of the term "genocide" - opposed by Turkey - while also stressing that the president's "view of that history has not changed" from his time as a U.S. senator, when he discussed the Genocide without reservations.

The letter also noted that the United States is "actively engaged at the highest levels to support full restoration of relations between Turkey and Armenia."

"Our interest remains the achievement of a full, frank and just acknowledgment of the facts. We continue to believe the best way to advance that goal is for the Armenian and Turkish people to address the facts of the past as part of their efforts to move forward. We will continue to pursue these efforts vigorously in the months ahead," the letter concluded.