Why did Ronald Reagan support calling the Armenian killings "genocide"?

Question

Could it be because he supported the large Armenian descendant population in California?

""Armenian-Americans have been pushing for passage of similar proposals for years. Ronald Reagan, a Californian, was the only president to publicly call the killings genocide. Others have avoided the term out of concern for Turkey's sensitivities.""

Answer 1

Well because it was genocide. And while we are currently in a tight spot with Turkey, that does not change anything about the inhumanity of what Turkey did do. If it takes 90 years to bring about justice then so be it, justice delayed is justice denied.
Turkey needs to be brought to task for it's crimes against Humanity!

Oh and I wonder which Turkey values more? Inclusion into the EU or some bruised national pride. If Turkey invades Northern Iraq I bet they can just about kiss EU membership goodbye.

Answer 2

Not only R.R. has called the massacre of the Armenians a genocide. G.W. Bush has too and in writing. That was in 2000, when he needed Armenian American votes and contributions to his campaign and before the ideologues in his advisory cabinet told him that it was a big No-No.
They 'larned' him well:

-1. Never,never use the G word,Dubya. Our pals in the Jewish Lobby have a monopoly on that word. Get this straight. Only European Jews have been 'genocided'.

-2. All the Arabs hate us. Only Turkey (more or less) puts up with us because they like our foreign aid and the arms we give them. Never bring up Armenians because they get touchy on the subject and we don't want to ruffle any turkey feathers. Besides,Israel wants us to keep Turkey happy. Cardinal rule! We must always do what Israel wants.

So now Bush issues statements hemming and hawing about how he understands the ¨tragic suffering¨ of the Armenians but not a whisper of the G word.

So now,although our old Cold War alliance with Turkey is 15 years out of date and needs to be revamped Bush supporters are yelling and sceaming that Turkey is our great ally in the region.

Some ally! The democratically elected Islamic government of Turkey represents a majority constituency that hates the U.S.. No democratically elected leader in Turkey is in a position to be an effective ally of the U.S. in the Iraq War. Only a military coup and a dictatorship could deliver the kind of close relationship that people say we have with Turkey. It just ain't so.

In 2003 they wouldn't let us move troops or weapons through their country and no one was talking Armenians. We can do cartwheels backwards and through hoops of fire to please the Turks and they will pursue their own agenda without a thought for our needs. They want a go at the Kurds and always have. They are fuming because Kurds have become prominent and powerful in their little corner of Iraq.

We are nuts to pander to Turkey and succumb to the kind of moral blackmail they are using. What is unbelievable is that they actually get other Americans here to do their propaganda work for them. We give them too much aid as it is already.

There is no freedom of speech in Turkey to have an open and honest debate about this and they act as if this gives them the right to put a muzzle on our own Congress in our own country! Turkish law does not apply to the U.S. Not yet it doesn't!

It is about time we began considering the sensitivities of our OWN Armenian American citizens.

ADD.NOTE.
THE FOLLOWING IS AN EXCERPT FROM A LETTER WRITTEN BY G.W.BUSH in the year 2000.(I copied and pasted this from another question)to the Armenian National Committee:

¨.....The twentieth century was marred by wars of unimaginable brutality, mass murder and GENOCIDE. History records that the Armenians were the first people of the last century to have endured these cruelties. The Armenians were subjected to a GENOCIDAL campaign that defies comprehension and commands all decent people to remember and acknowledge the facts and lessons of an awful crime in a century of bloody crimes against humanity. If elected President, I would ensure that our nation properly recognizes the tragic suffering of the Armenian people.

THE FOLLOWING IS A RECENT ADDRESS BY THE SAME MAN(G. W. Bush,but now we see him giving in to Turkey's blackmail and under obvious instructions from his neoconservative cabinet and policy makers):

¨I urge members to oppose the Armenian genocide resolution now being considered by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. We all deeply regret the tragic suffering of the Armenian people that began in 1915. This resolution is not the right response to these historic mass killings, and its passage would do great harm to our relations with a key ally in NATO and in the global war on terror.

Now in this new Bush version the Armenians have 'suffered tragically' and undergone 'mass killings' but Bush no longer admits that genocide was commited against them.

He refers to Turkey our NATO ally (an ally in an alliance against the Soviet Union,a country which no longer exists)and as our ally in the supposed ¨war on terror¨. Turkey has hardly cooperated with a single request in the Iraq war and has protested every step of the way about the Kurds,practically our only allies in Iraq.

He also does not get his historical facts straight. Armenian suffering in Turkey began in the XIX century and continued beyond the 1915-1917 date which is when the worst massacres occurred.he doesn't even mention WHERE these massacres happened. They could have taken place on Mars from all he says!

Answer 3

It is genocide, and everybody knows it. We just do not want to strain our Turkish Relationship by publicly acknowledging it at this time when it happened 90 years ago. As soon as we have stabilized the region, would be a good time to publicly denounce it, and put this issue to bed. There is NOTHING we can do about the Turks actions of 90 years ago, the culprits are all dead anyway.

Answer 4

Who cares what happened 90 years ago, why are you putting our troops in danger by stirring up b.s. of long ago?