Current Events > Trump refuses to back recognition of Armenian Genocide after Erdogan threat

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-armenian-genocide-erdogan-turkey-native-americans-a9250281.html

Donald Trump's administration has rejected a US Senate resolution recognising the Armenian genocide, just a day after Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to recognise the killing of Native Americans in retaliation.

The Senate measure was rejected by the State Department on Tuesday, with a spokesperson for the department indicating that US position on the matter did not change.

"The position of the Administration has not changed," said spokesperson Morgan Ortagus, in a statement to the Hill. "Our views are reflected in the President's definitive statement on the issue from last April."

The US Senate had passed a resolution unanimously last week to recognise the Armenian genocide as a matter of foreign policy, in a rare showing of bipartisanship on a deeply divisive issue and in spite of the Trump administration's objections. It marked the first time that the US Congress had formally designated the 1915 killings of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire as a genocide.

"To overlook human suffering is not who we are as a people," said senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey who co-sponsored the legislation alongside Texas Republican senator Ted Cruz, during an emotional speech moments before the legislation was passed. "It is not what we stand for as a nation. We are better than that, and our foreign policy should always reflect this."

The Senate vote came after the House approved the measure last month, with a vote that came while Mr Trump and Mr Erdogan were meeting in the Oval Office.

Following the Senate vote last week, Mr Erdogan threatened to recognise the killing of Native Americans by European settlers in America, as they moved across the country and displaced and killed entire populations.

"We should oppose [the US] by reciprocating such decisions in parliament. And that is what we will do," Mr Erdogan said during an interview on the pro-government A Haber news channel.

"Can we speak about America without mentioning [Native Americans]? It is a shameful moment in US history," he continued.

In its statement, the State Department pointed to Mr Trump's 24 April comments, which fell on the Global Armenian Remembrance Day. During his statement, Mr Trump recognised that over a million and a half Armenians were "deported, massacred or marched to their deaths" under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

He did not describe the events as genocide. While former president Barack Obama described the events as a genocide as a candidate in 2008, his administration later assured the Turkish government that it did not support a resolution recognising the killings as a genocide.

Trump is a fucking worthless piece of trash human.
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Both genocides should be recognized.

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creativerealms posted...

Both genocides should be recognized.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMKdMmpK1T8

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Bad genocides on both sides

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Trump is scum

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_of_Tears

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creativerealms posted...

Both genocides should be recognized.

This, and it says a lot (more) about Trump if Erdogan's threat really did factor into Trump rejecting the resolution.

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What a dick
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Really what this comes down to is two things:

1) Trump is really, really desperate for the cash having his name on two towers in Turkey is bringing in. And I say "really, really" because it's supposedly less than $1M/year.

2) Turkey really did intercept a call between Kushner and Saudi Arabia that involved Kushner giving the go-ahead to SA to kidnap Khashoggi and they're sitting on the audio and using it to blackmail Trump. Given all the kowtowing to Turkey this remains the most likely reason.
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So did Ilhan Omar
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CrimsonRage posted...

jfc is trump the most compromised president in us history

Yeah, hadnt heard about that. What is the story there?

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are you fucking kidding me? nobody in america cares, Trump. we all know we slaughtered the natives. that was a laughable "threat" and you fell for it. fuck off, Trump. god damnit what an idiot

CrimsonRage posted...

jfc is trump the most compromised president in us history

maybe. he has poor security habits. he refuses to use an encryped phone and still uses his personal cell phone even though the entire government keeps begging him to stop

Well, I guess I need to update this then


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davyheinz posted...

Yeah, hadnt heard about that. What is the story there?

hearsay, really. but let's be honest, do you really think that the saudi embassy wasn't fully kitted up for the turks to hear everything that goes in and out?

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Bio1590 posted...

Really what this comes down to is two things:

1) Trump is really, really desperate for the cash having his name on two towers in Turkey is bringing in. And I say "really, really" because it's supposedly less than $1M/year.

2) Turkey really did intercept a call between Kushner and Saudi Arabia that involved Kushner giving the go-ahead to SA to kidnap Khashoggi and they're sitting on the audio and using it to blackmail Trump. Given all the kowtowing to Turkey this remains the most likely reason.

Quite possible
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Highwind07 posted...

The Senate overwhelmingly voted yes for that bill and Trump is here going like "lets be nice to Turkey". Meanwhile Erdogan partnered with Russia to clean house in Syria by eliminating the Kurds from their land, and also then threatened to stop sponsoring our Air Force bases there.

Crazy theory: The Senate finally allowed it to pass (after the GOP blocked it earlier) because they knew Trump would veto it (either actually or through a pocket veto), and they have no intention of overriding his veto on it.

davyheinz posted...

Yeah, hadnt heard about that. What is the story there?

https://spectator.us/seven-whistleblowers-jared-kushner-bin-salman/

So this article showed up in The Spectator in early November with claims that there were like 7 Whistleblowers and that one of them actually had nothing to do with the Ukraine shitfest but rather was related to calls between Trump and Saudi Arabia. It goes on to mention this:

According to Cockburns source about the seven whistleblowers, theres more. It is that Kushner (allegedly) gave the green light to MBS to arrest the dissident journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, who was later murdered and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. A second source tells Cockburn that this is true and adds a crucial twist to the story. This source claims that Turkish intelligence obtained an intercept of the call between Kushner and MBS. And President Erdogan used it to get Trump to roll over and pull American troops out of northern Syria before the Turks invaded

Now I don't think anything else has come out in support of this, but I do think the speed at which the White House latched on to this and immediately started denying it is a little suspect.
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Bio1590 posted...

Crazy theory: The Senate finally allowed it to pass (after the GOP blocked it earlier) because they knew Trump would veto it (either actually or through a pocket veto), and they have no intention of overriding his veto on it.

Not crazy at all. Very few outcomes in Washington are ever unexpected by anyone
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Maybe Trump just feels that genocide has had an unfair press.

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Lol remember yesterday when ppl were like hell yeah Americans don't care about that threat, we happily recognise our genocides!

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creativerealms posted...

Both genocides should be recognized.

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Listen: Trump is very stupid and there are any number of reasons to believe his decision-making, especially in the realm of foreign policy, is influenced by his personal interests.

Also, Obama didn't recognize the Armenian genocide while in office either

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/19/armenian-genocide-ben-rhodes-samantha-power-obama-349973
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NinjaBreakfast posted...

Lol remember yesterday when ppl were like hell yeah Americans don't care about that threat, we happily recognise our genocides!

I mean largely they don't.

There's no way this has anything to do with that threat though and I wish the connection wasn't being made.
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Certain CEmen in the past got very butthurt at the idea of calling our treatment of the Native Americans genocide.

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Trump is the lowest form of pond scum that has ever infested the earth.
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UnholyMudcrab posted...

Trump is the lowest form of pond scum that has ever infested the earth.