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Letter to Members of the U.S. House of Representatives
Dear Representative:
I am writing, in the wake of last year’s passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution, to ask you to co-sign the Titus letter calling upon the Library of Congress to use the historically accurate term “Armenian Genocide” in its subject heading for books and other materials regarding the Ottoman Empire’s intentional, systematic, and deliberate mass murder, deportation, and exile of more than one and a half million Armenians between 1915 and 1923.
As you know, the Library of Congress – a national treasure – is an agency of our Legislative Branch and the research arm of the U.S. Congress. The leaders of this institution should not defer to the Executive Branch on matters of fact, and must certainly never submit to foreign pressure from foreign governments.
Changing the current Armenian Massacres subject heading to Armenian Genocide is the right thing to do based on the broad-based academic consensus, vast historical research, and extensive documentation. Such a correction would also align with the near-unanimous Congressional resolutions adopted last year that both recognize the Armenian Genocide and reject any U.S. association with the denial of this crime.
Sadly, today, the phrase “Armenian Massacres” – which was used for many decades in a purely descriptive manner – has evolved into a euphemism that, all too often, is deployed to diminish the full historical, moral, legal, and contemporary meaning of the Armenian Genocide. In its modern usage, this outdated phrase conceals more than it reveals.
Thank you for your attention to our concerns. I look forward to learning of your support for this Congressional letter.