Azernews.Az

The Armenian community in the United States has been riled by a new book by former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in which she expressed her views about the alleged World War I-era genocide of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey.

In the newly released "No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington", Rice dismisses the genocide as "something that had happened almost a hundred years before" and about which "there are many historical interpretations."

The former secretary of state also tells of her efforts to block passage of the Armenian "genocide" resolution in US Congress in 1991 and 2007.

Rice recalled that during her tenure she mobilized the US administration’s efforts to counter passage of the resolution and the goal was subsequently achieved.

She added that "it was a matter for historians -- not politicians -- to decide how best to label what had occurred".

Rice noted that the initiatives to achieve recognition of the "genocide", in fact, had not been in the interest of the government in Yerevan and it was the Armenian lobby that was advocating for the measure.

The US Armenians, angered by Rice’s views, have urged to launch a campaign against the former secretary of state. The Armenian community has also demanded that Rice be expelled from Stanford University where she teaches.

Armenians say that up to 1.5 million of their kin fell victim to genocide during World War I under the Ottoman Empire.

Turkey counters that 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians rose up against their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian forces.