The United States House of Representatives issues a strong rebuke of Turkey by overwhelmingly passing a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide and condemning Turkey’s “campaign of genocide against Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syriacs, Arameans, Maronites, and other Christians…”
The vote marked the first time in 35 years that such legislation was considered in the full House, underscoring widespread frustration in Congress with the Turkish government, from both Democrats and President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans.
It is the first time that a chamber of the United States Congress has officially designated the 1915 slaughter of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians as a genocide.
Additionally, in a strong rebuke of Turkey and President Erdogan, the House voted 403-16 to apply sanctions on Turkey for its invasion of northeast Syria.
“Great first steps,” according to the Hellenic American Leadership Council. “Now it’s time for the Senate to act,” the Chicago-based organization said in a statement after the House vote, which has created a petition demanding that the U.S. Senate also take up the vote.
Turkey quickly condemned both resolutions, saying the genocide resolution “is devoid of any historical or legal basis,” and adding: “As a meaningless political step, its sole addressees are the Armenian lobby and anti-Turkey groups.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was honored to vote for it “in solemn remembrance of one of the great atrocities of the 20th century: the systematic murder of more than 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children by the Ottoman Empire.”
“Today, let us clearly state the facts on the floor of this House to be etched forever into the Congressional Record: the barbarism committed against the Armenian people was a genocide,” Pelosi said.
Read the full text of House Resolution 296.