Washington, DC —Republican presidential contender
Arizona Senator John McCain responded today to the Armenian National Committee
of America’s (ANCA) national postcard campaign with a letter outlining his views
on issues of concern to Armenian American voters.

Over the past four months, over 200,000 postcards addressed to Senator McCain
have highlighted his record of having voted “against the Armenian Genocide
resolution and failing to speak out against Turkey’s denials.” Through these
postcards, Armenians Americans from across the U.S. asked the Senator to explain
his vote in 1990 against Bob Dole’s Armenian Genocide resolution and, more
recently, his vote this past June to repeal the law imposing restrictions on
U.S. aid to Azerbaijan (Section 907). Similar postcards were also sent to the
other leading presidential candidates.

Most notable in McCain’s response was his failure to properly characterize as
“genocide” what he himself describes in his letter to the ANCA as the
“systematic murder of as many as one and a half million Armenians.” Nor does
McCain’s letter specifically address the issues raised in the postcards – namely
his Senate votes against Armenian American issues. He did, however, note that:

“A century that began with the systematic murder of as many as
one and a half million Armenians and ended with the brutal subjugation of
Chechnya should not be permitted to fade from our collective memory as we look
ahead into the 21st Century. In this respect, it was gratifying to witness
Armenia’s emergence as an independent nation and its growth as a democracy.
The Armenians-American community, a large and vibrant part of our society,
plays a vital role in ensuring that the scale of human suffering endured
during the 20th century is not repeated through its efforts at keeping alive
the memory of the horrible events of 1915-1923.”

Elsewhere in his letter, McCain voiced his commitment to “forge the closest
relations between Armenia and the United States,” and expressed his “strong
support for the Armenian American community.” He cited his 1997 visit to
Armenia, pledged to help Armenia continue building a strong democracy, and noted
his “strong support for more than $80 million per year in foreign aid” to
Armenia.

“While we welcome Senator McCain’s willingness to speak to the concerns of
Armenian American voters and value his commitment to strengthening U.S.-Armenian
relations, we remain troubled – particularly in light of his past record – by
his continued failure to properly characterize the Armenian Genocide as a
genocide,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “Down-playing or
dismissing – through euphemisms or evasive terminology – the deliberate campaign
by Turkey to annihilate the Armenian people serves neither American values nor
U.S. interests in preventing future genocides.”

Statements on Armenian American issues have been received from each of the
four leading presidential candidates – McCain, Texas Governor George Bush, Vice
President Al Gore, and former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley. Among these, both
McCain’s and Al Gore’s statements stand out as failing to properly characterize
the Armenian Genocide.

“The ANCA is deeply gratified by the energetic response within the Armenian
American community to our million postcard campaign – a response which resulted
in statements on Armenian issues being released by each of the leading
candidates. We are confident that each of these candidates will want to build
upon this dialogue with Armenian American voters in the months ahead,” added
Hamparian.

Below is the text of Senator McCain’s letter to the ANCA.