Deukmejian Urges ‘Truth’ on Massacre of Armenians

SAN FRANCISCO —  In an emotional plea, Gov. George Deukmejian, the nation’s first governor of Armenian descent, called Thursday for Turkey to acknowledge the “historical truth” of the Armenian genocide and said he is “hurt” by the United States’ refusal to officially commemorate the massacre.

“It’s time that the government of Turkey stopped playing its cynical game of pretense that this genocide did not occur,” Deukmejian said in a speech at an Armenian Martyrs Day ceremony in San Francisco.

Referring to the 1.5 million Armenians estimated to have died at the hands of Ottoman Turks beginning in 1915, Deukmejian declared: “They know it happened. They know the evidence is there.”

Later, the Republican governor said the Reagan Administration’s opposition to an official day of remembrance for the victims represents a “wide, embarrassing and inexplicable hole in (the nation’s) line of defense against atrocity.”

Resolution Refused

Reagan has refused to support a congressional resolution that would have set aside April 24 as a day to honor the victims of genocide. State Department officials have expressed concern that to do so could harm relations with Turkey, a military ally of the United States that has refused to accept responsibility for the massacre.

Officials of the Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles declined to comment on Deukmejian’s speech.

The governor has taken it upon himself to declare April 24 a day of remembrance in California, during which flags were to fly at half-staff on all state buildings.

Deukmejian, son of Armenian immigrants, enjoys strong support from California’s Armenian community and has spoken out strongly on issues such as the genocide. Although it occurred seven decades ago during World War I, the incident remains potent for Armenians, and ceremonies like Thursday’s tend to bring out an emotional side of the governor, whose speaking style on other occasions tends to be stiff and formal.

Last year, Deukmejian, a strong supporter of Reagan, used the occasion of a Martyrs Day ceremony in Washington to launch his first attack on the stance of the United States, accusing Reagan and Congress of “buckling under to Turkish pressure.” He also unsuccessfully called on Reagan to abandon his controversial trip last May to a German military cemetery at Bitburg, West Germany, that contained the graves of Nazi SS troopers.

On Thursday, Deukmejian avoided mentioning Reagan by name in his address but called on the State Department to “reject the pressure of Turkish leaders and recognize the historical facts of the Armenian genocide.” At the same time, however, the governor praised the U.S. Senate for ending a 37-year deadlock in approving a genocide treaty that Deukmejian said would put “those countries which rely on oppression, tyranny and assassination on notice that their actions will no longer be tolerated by freedom-loving people.”

In the Los Angeles area, meanwhile, nearly 5,000 Armenian-Americans gathered in Montebello’s Bicknell Park for the Martyrs Day observance after a two-mile march that, according to unconfirmed reports, was marred by the burning of a Turkish flag at its start and finish.

U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) had been scheduled to speak at the gathering, but a spokesman for him said he had to cancel because of work in the Senate on the federal budget. In Cranston’s absence, City Councilman Mike Woo presented the rally organizers with a city proclamation commemorating the day as “Armenian Remembrance Day.”

Throughout the peaceful crowd were signs in Armenian and English--some proclaiming Turkey guilty of genocide--and many teen-agers in red T-shirts imprinted with the words “Armenian Youth Federation.”

Times staff writer Don Rosen in Los Angeles contributed to this article.