The Armenian Assembly of America called the House International Relations Subcommittee to hold additional hearings on the state of U.S.-Turkey relations to take into account several key Armenian-American concerns. Assembly leaders said the hearing included presenters who expressed only pro-Turkish views and that such an imbalance could not provide for an honest assessment. “While we hoped today’s hearing would provide a critical review of needed changes in Turkish policy with respect to human rights, treatment of its minority populations, denial of the Armenian Genocide and its future aspirations to the European Union, we are deeply concerned that these issues were overlooked,” said Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny. In a letter to a Subcommittee Member, the Assembly outlined several fundamental issues of concern, namely Turkey’s failure to lift its twelve-year blockade of Armenia and its continued denial of the Armenian Genocide. “Turkey cannot become the plural, democratic and European Union-integrated state it aspires to be without opening the last closed border of Europe, establishing full relations with Armenia without preconditions and dealing with its genocidal Ottoman legacy,” added Ardouny.
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