![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Sassunian-son-resim3.jpg\" "\\"Sassunian")
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A congressional committee adopted an amendment last month that would suspend U.S. foreign aid to any country hosting a visit by Sudan\u2019s President Omar al-Bashir. Members of Congress intend to isolate this brutal leader and help bring him to court for his crimes in Darfur.<\/p>\n
Congress decided to take this action after several countries, including Turkey and Egypt, ignored the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in March 2009, charging the Sudanese President with genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in Darfur. In contravention of their international obligations, these countries hosted visits by al-Bashir, instead of capturing him and dispatching him to the ICC for prosecution.<\/p>\n
In November 2009, when the President of Sudan was about to visit Ankara, Amnesty International warned: \u201cIt would be a disgrace for Turkey to offer him safe haven. If the Turkish authorities fail to arrest President Omar al-Bashir and hand him over to the ICC, this would be inconsistent with Turkey\u2019s international obligations. It would not only amount to obstruction of justice, but just as offering shelter to a fleeing bank robber constitutes a crime under national law, so, too, would sheltering a fugitive from international justice be complicity in crime.\u201d<\/p>\n
Four US non-governmental organizations issued a joint statement in November 2009, criticizing the Obama administration for refusing to protest the Sudanese President\u2019s visit to Turkey. The NGO\u2019s sought to ensure that \u201ca wanted war criminal does not continue to travel with impunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Turkish Prime Minister, not only allowed the Sudanese President to visit Turkey, but tried to absolve him of any wrongdoing by claiming that \u201cMuslims don\u2019t commit genocide!\u201d Making matters worse, Turkey continues to sell lethal weapons to Sudan, helping al-Bashir kill more innocent people!<\/p>\n
To put an end to such irresponsible behavior by Turkey and many other countries, the House Appropriations Committee adopted on May 17, 2012, an amendment to a State Department funding bill that would cut off non-humanitarian aid to countries that do not comply with ICC\u2019s directive. The amendment sponsored by Cong. Frank Wolf (Republican-Virginia) states that no economic assistance would be provided by the United States \u201cto any country that admits President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan.\u201d<\/p>\n
After reports began circulating that the Obama administration is trying to block this proposed law, 70 leading Holocaust and genocide scholars signed a joint letter on June 14, urging the White House to support the congressional amendment that would stop providing assistance to countries hosting Sudan\u2019s President. Among the signatories of the letter are Dr. Israel Charny of Jerusalem, Dr. Irving Greenberg, former chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Dr. Deborah Dwork of Clark University.<\/p>\n
The scholars\u2019 letter, organized by the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies in Washington, D.C., was sent to presidential advisor Dr. Samantha Power, who heads the recently-established Atrocities Prevention Board. The scholars reminded Power that in her Pulitzer Prize winning book, \u201cA Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide,\u201d she had urged the US government to adopt \u201ceconomic sanctions\u201d to counter genocidal actions. Since the proposed bill \u201cdoes exactly that,\u201d the 70 signatories expressed the hope that Power and the White House would support Cong. Wolf\u2019s amendment, particularly when it is brought up for reconciliation between the House and Senate.
\nIt is doubtful, however, that Samantha Power would speak out in favor of this amendment. Since joining the White House staff, she has distanced herself from the issues she had boldly advocated in her book. She has also remained eerily silent on Pres. Obama\u2019s unfulfilled pledges regarding the Armenian Genocide. Power had issued several appeals during the last presidential campaign, seeking the Armenian-American community\u2019s support for Barack Obama\u2019s candidacy. She had solemnly pledged that Pres. Obama would acknowledge the Armenian Genocide after the election.<\/p>\n
So far, Armenian-Americans have not gotten involved in lobbying for the adoption of this important bill, most probably because they were unaware of its introduction in Congress. Armenian scholars were also left out of this issue, since no one had approached them to obtain their support.<\/p>\n
An aide to Cong. Wolf advised this writer that the Congressman would appreciate the Armenian-American community\u2019s support for this bill which would discourage Turkey and other countries from wining and dining al-Bashir and would help bring this indicted criminal to justice.<\/p>\n
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A congressional committee adopted an amendment last month that would suspend U.S. foreign aid to any country hosting a visit by Sudan\u2019s President Omar al-Bashir. Members of Congress intend to isolate this brutal leader and help bring him to court for his crimes in Darfur. Congress decided to take this action after several countries, including […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4101,"featured_media":774085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3488],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-harut-sassounian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}