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The Jurist
March 5 2010
House committee adopts Armenian genocide resolution
Matt Glenn at 7:35 AM ET
[JURIST] The US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs
[official website] voted 23-22 Tuesday to adopt a resolution [H Res
252 text] that recognizes the Ottoman Empire's treatment of Armenians
between 1915 and 1923 as genocide [JURIST news archive]. In his
opening remarks [text], committee chairman Howard Berman (D-CA)
[official website], noted that every country must face uncomfortable
issues its past, and continued, "[i]t is now time for Turkey to accept
the reality of the Armenian Genocide." The non-binding resolution:
calls upon the President in the President's annual message
commemorating the Armenian Genocide issued on or about April 24, to
accurately characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of
1,500,000 Armenians as genocide and to recall the proud history of
United States intervention in opposition to the Armenian Genocide.
Obama administration officials had urged the committee not to hold the
vote [NYT report], fearing that such a resolution could damage
relations with Turkey. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Teyyip Erdogan
[official website, in Turkish] condemned the resolution [press
release, in Turkish], denying the charges and warning the resolution
could harm Turkey's relationship with the US and Armenia. Turkey also
recalled its ambassador to the US Thursday. It is not known whether
the full House of Representatives will vote on the resolution. A
similar resolution was passed by the committee in 2007, but it never
reached the House floor [JURIST reports].
In October, Armenia and Turkey signed an accord [JURIST report]
normalizing relations and opening the border between the two
countries. Despite the apparent appeal of the agreement, there is
opposition by factions in both countries. Many Armenian nationalists
want Turkey to acknowledge the killings of 1.5 million Armenian
citizens during World War I, which many refer to as the "Armenian
Genocide" [BBC backgrounder]. Turkey has long disputed [Al Jazeera
report] the numbers, and has said the killings were a result of a
civil war that took place after the collapse of the Ottoman empire.
Turkey has expressed concern over its ally Azerbaijan, which has been
fighting [DW report] with Armenia over the breakaway region of
Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan. Turkey closed its border to Armenia in
1993 after Armenian separatists began fighting with Azerbaijani
military to show its support for the preservation of Azerbaijan's
territorial integrity.
March 5 2010
House committee adopts Armenian genocide resolution
Matt Glenn at 7:35 AM ET
[JURIST] The US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs
[official website] voted 23-22 Tuesday to adopt a resolution [H Res
252 text] that recognizes the Ottoman Empire's treatment of Armenians
between 1915 and 1923 as genocide [JURIST news archive]. In his
opening remarks [text], committee chairman Howard Berman (D-CA)
[official website], noted that every country must face uncomfortable
issues its past, and continued, "[i]t is now time for Turkey to accept
the reality of the Armenian Genocide." The non-binding resolution:
calls upon the President in the President's annual message
commemorating the Armenian Genocide issued on or about April 24, to
accurately characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of
1,500,000 Armenians as genocide and to recall the proud history of
United States intervention in opposition to the Armenian Genocide.
Obama administration officials had urged the committee not to hold the
vote [NYT report], fearing that such a resolution could damage
relations with Turkey. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Teyyip Erdogan
[official website, in Turkish] condemned the resolution [press
release, in Turkish], denying the charges and warning the resolution
could harm Turkey's relationship with the US and Armenia. Turkey also
recalled its ambassador to the US Thursday. It is not known whether
the full House of Representatives will vote on the resolution. A
similar resolution was passed by the committee in 2007, but it never
reached the House floor [JURIST reports].
In October, Armenia and Turkey signed an accord [JURIST report]
normalizing relations and opening the border between the two
countries. Despite the apparent appeal of the agreement, there is
opposition by factions in both countries. Many Armenian nationalists
want Turkey to acknowledge the killings of 1.5 million Armenian
citizens during World War I, which many refer to as the "Armenian
Genocide" [BBC backgrounder]. Turkey has long disputed [Al Jazeera
report] the numbers, and has said the killings were a result of a
civil war that took place after the collapse of the Ottoman empire.
Turkey has expressed concern over its ally Azerbaijan, which has been
fighting [DW report] with Armenia over the breakaway region of
Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan. Turkey closed its border to Armenia in
1993 after Armenian separatists began fighting with Azerbaijani
military to show its support for the preservation of Azerbaijan's
territorial integrity.