Civilnet
Pope Francis leading a Holy Mass for the faithful of the Armenian Rite on April 12 on the occasion of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide.
The aftermath of Pope Francis’ declaration that Armenians were victims of genocide reached the United States and the United Nations this week when spokespersons for the U.S. Department of State and UN Secretary-General faced questions regarding the Pontiff’s comments and attempted to sidestep the issue.
When the question of the United States’ position on the Armenian Genocide came up during a Tuesday State Department news conference, U.S. State Department Acting Spokesperson Marie Harf stated that President Barack Obama and his administration acknowledged — and continues to acknowledge — the massacres of Armenians, but without using the word genocide.
“The President and other senior Administration officials have repeatedly acknowledged as historical fact and mourned the fact that 1.5 million Armenians were massacred or marched to their deaths in the final days of the Ottoman Empire,” said Harf.
She also stated “that a full, frank, and just acknowledgement of the facts is in all our interests,” a statement that Obama has used verbatim in previous years when remembering the genocide. (2012...2014)
But when asked to comment on Pope Francis’ choice of words to condemn the atrocity, Harf refused to comment further than her previous statement.
“QUESTION: Any reaction to the Pope?
MS HARF: Nothing beyond what I just said.
QUESTION: Are you --
QUESTION: And so you’re asking for Turkey to make that public acknowledgement then? Is that what you’re saying?
MS HARF: Nothing more than I just said.”
U.S. State Department Acting Spokesperson Marie Harf
Reporters than further questioned Harf about Obama’s 2008 promise to recognize the Armenian Genocide, but Harf deferred comment for someone associated with the campaign.
In 2008, Obama wrote that he would recognize the Armenian Genocide and also admitted during an event in Illinois that a genocide happened against the Armenians.
When asked if the United States would plan any commemorations for the 100th anniversary, Harf did not have any knowledge of any events, but would “check” if there were plans.
Meanwhile at the United Nations on Monday, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that Secretary-General Ban-ki Moon was “fully aware of the sensitivities related to the characterization of what happened in 1915,” when asked if the Secretary-General took the position that the killings were genocide
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric
“The Secretary-General firmly believes that commemorating and remembering those tragic events of 1915 and continuing to cooperate with a view to establishing the facts about what happened should strengthen our collective determination to prevent similar atrocity crimes from ever happening in the future,” added Dujarric, who sidestepped commenting directly on Pope Francis’ remarks and the 1985 Whitaker Report submitted by Special Rapporteur Benjamin Whitaker to the United Nations Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities that stated the massacres of Armenians was genocide.
When prompted about if Moon’s stance that the Armenian massacres were a genocide, Dujarric refused to comment further.
“You've asked me a question, I've related what the Secretary-General's position is,” he responded.
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