The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) sharply criticized remarks by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who dismissed the murder of 1.5 million Armenians as a “historical debate,” and argued that U.S. affirmation of this crime would open a “dangerous door.”

“The Obama-Biden Administration - with Secretary Clinton’s latest remarks - continues to dig itself deeper and deeper into a hole of complicity in Turkey’s genocide denial,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.

“It’s a sad spectacle to see Secretary Clinton hiding behind cynical appeals to scholars - the overwhelming majority of whom have already spoken forcefully against Turkey’s denials of the Armenian Genocide - to divert attention from President Obama’s, Vice President Biden’s or her own promises to properly recognize this crime and, more broadly, to divert attention from the White House’s failure to meet its moral obligation to stand up against a foreign government’s veto of our defense of human rights,” continued Hamparian.

“The Secretary’s unfounded and offensive reference to ‘historical debate’ in regards to the Armenian Genocide only emboldens the denials of the Turkish Government – which, just today, again took steps toward deporting Armenians,” continued Hamparian, referencing news emanating from Turkey of plans for a revisions to its immigration policy that would effectively target Armenian immigrants for expulsion from the country.