Both President Obama and I Oppose Armenian Genocide Resolution: Clinton

At a news conference in Costa Rica on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, asked to elaborate on her reversed position on the Armenian Genocide bill House Resolution 252, said that the situation had changed, and the US believes that the Armenia-Turkey Protocols are the appropriate way to deal with issues between Armenia and Turkey.

“Well, I think circumstances have changed in very significant ways. When President Obama took office and I became Secretary of State, we determined that the process undertaken by the Swiss in bringing the Turkey — Turkish and Armenian governments together was a very worthy one that we intended to support, and we have done so.

“I was personally in Zurich at the time that the protocols for the normalization of relationship between the two countries were signed. We think that is the appropriate way to manage the problems that have stood in the way of normalization between the two countries,” said Clinton in an interview available on the US Secretary of State official website.

She and Obama, who both supported proposed Armenia Genocide resolutions as presidential candidates, had changed their minds because they believed the drive to normalize relations between Turkey and Armenia was bearing fruit.

“Within the protocols, there was an agreed-upon approach to establishing a historical commission to look at events in the past. I do not think it is for any other country to determine how two countries resolve matters between them, to the extent that actions that the United States might take could disrupt this process.

“Therefore, both President Obama and I have made clear, both last year and again this year, that we do not believe any action by the Congress is appropriate, and we oppose it.

“Now, the committee that you referred to has voted out such a resolution, I think three times in the past. They’re likely to vote it out again. But we do not believe that the full Congress will or should act upon that resolution, and we have made that clear to all the parties involved,” said Clinton.