ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News
Armenians gather to mark the anniversary of the 1915 killings at a monument in Yerevan in this photo. An Armenian group is to meet with US presidential candidates. AP photo
Ümit Enginsoy
uenginsoy@aol.com
The Armenian National Committee of
America (ANCA) has called on both Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican candidate Governor
Mitt Romney to outline their views on issues of special concern to Armenian
American voters, and to hold a formal meeting with the community’s leadership prior to the November elections, the group has said.
In a letter sent last week to Obama, ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian said the president’s “failure to consult personally” with representatives of his Armenian
American constituents in addition to breaching a previous campaign pledge to recognize the “Armenian genocide” was “unhealthy for both
American democracy and U.S. diplomacy.”
The ANCA’s letter to governor Romney, similarly, called upon the Republican nominee to spell out his views on Armenian
American issues and to meet personally with the leadership of the Armenian
American community. The ANCA also asked Armenian voters to send their views on Obama and Romney in e-mails messages.
Obama angered the Armenian
American community when he broke his promise to recognize the “Armenian genocide.” Romney has not openly announced his views on the matter, but Paul Ryan, his vice-presidential candidate, has supported pro-Armenian moves in the House of Representatives over the past couple of years.
Armenian Americans call the deaths of their kinsmen in the
Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I “genocide,” while Turkey claims the number of Armenian deaths is much smaller, with victims including many Turks and Muslims as well.
August/22/2012