United States resolution on Armenian genocide
Encyclopedia
The proposed Armenian Genocide resolution is a measure currently under consideration in the U.S. House of Representatives that would recognize the 1915 Genocide
. It is officially called H. Res 106 or the Affirmation of the United States Record on the Armenian Genocide Resolution. The resolution was introduced by Adam Schiff
(a Democratic Party
Representative for California
) on January 30, 2007, during the 110th United States Congress
. It is a non-binding resolution
of the House alone, calling upon the U.S. President
At least 11 representatives have withdrawn as cosponsors since October 15, 2007, and the number of cosponsors fell short of a majority of the House.
Nancy Pelosi
said that the measure would be brought to a vote because "While that may have been a long time ago, genocide is taking place now in Darfur, it did within recent memory in Rwanda, so as long as there is genocide there is need to speak out against it..." However, later she was forced to backtrack from a pledge to bring the measure for a vote because of a waning support for this resolution, since many believe that "angering Turkey would hamper efforts in Iraq". Currently the resolution has 215 co-sponsors, comparing to 236 co-sponsors it had earlier this year.
. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
urged US lawmakers to drop the resolution. She said: "I continue to believe that the passage of the ... Armenian genocide resolution would severely harm our relationships with Turkey". While a candidate, U.S. President Barack Obama
stated that he "stood with the Armenian American community in calling for Turkey's acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide", but his Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton assured Turkey that the White House opposes the resolution.
Eight former US secretaries of state, both Republican and Democrat, signed a petition calling for refraining from passing this resolution.
Gregory Meeks
, a Democrat representative from New York in the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, voted against the resolution, arguing that Congress should focus on the failings of U.S. history, such as slavery or the killings of Native Americans, before it starts condemning the histories of other countries. He said, "We have failed to do what we're asking other people to do ... We have got to clean up our own house."
Zbigniew Brzezinski
, a former U.S. national security adviser, stated in an interview to CNN
:
Columnist Charles Krauthammer
expressed a similar view, stating "unequivocally" that the Armenian genocide happened, but "unequivocally" that "the U.S. House of Representatives [should not] be expressing itself on this now". Krauthammer also reports that
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter
also stated in an interview to CNN: "I think if I was in Congress I would not vote for it."
The resolution also received negative reactions in mass media. Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist expressed his surprise that “a Congress that has historically lacked the spine or heart to tackle the nation's ugliest legacies in a meaningful way is censuring Turkey”. The newspaper quotes Robert J. Miller, a professor at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Ore., who called it "unbelievable" that Congress is pointing fingers elsewhere while ignoring a U.S. history of black enslavement and the destruction and displacement of Indians.
stated: "[genocide] is the greatest accusation of all against humanity... You cannot expect any nation to accept that kind of labeling."
According to the Washington Post, to defeat the initiative for the resolution, the Turkish government "is spending more than $300,000 a month on communications specialists and high-powered lobbyists, including former congressman Bob Livingston".
On October 11, 2007, Gunduz Aktan, a member of the delegation of Turkish parliamentarians, who were in Washington
to protest against the resolution, stated:
:
told a news conference in Yerevan on 21 October 2007.
Armenian Genocide
The Armenian Genocide—also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Crime—refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
. It is officially called H. Res 106 or the Affirmation of the United States Record on the Armenian Genocide Resolution. The resolution was introduced by Adam Schiff
Adam Schiff
Adam Bennett Schiff is the U.S. Representative for . He has served in Congress since 2001. He is a member of the Democratic Party...
(a Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Representative for California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
) on January 30, 2007, during the 110th United States Congress
110th United States Congress
The One Hundred Tenth United States Congress was the meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, between January 3, 2007, and January 3, 2009, during the last two years of the second term of President George W. Bush. It was composed of the Senate and the House of...
. It is a non-binding resolution
Non-binding resolution
A non-binding resolution is a written motion adopted by a deliberative body that cannot progress into a law. The substance of the resolution can be anything that can normally be proposed as a motion....
of the House alone, calling upon the U.S. President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Summary
Affirmation of the United States Record on the Armenian Genocide Resolution calls upon the President to ensure that U.S. foreign policy reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented in the U.S. record relating to the Armenian Genocide and the consequences of the failure to realize a just resolution and in the President's annual message commemorating the Armenian Genocide to characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1.5 million Armenians as genocide, and to recall the proud history of U.S. intervention in opposition to the Armenian Genocide.Current co-sponsors
As of now, including Rep. Schiff, the resolution has 215 co-sponsors.At least 11 representatives have withdrawn as cosponsors since October 15, 2007, and the number of cosponsors fell short of a majority of the House.
Current status
Upon its introduction it was referred to United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs where it passed a 27-21 vote and was sent back for a full house vote. On October 26, 2007, in a letter addressed to the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, four key sponsors of the bill, requested a debate on the bill in full House to be postponed.Introduction of resolution
On October 11, 2007, regarding a proposed US House resolution 106, the Speaker of the United States House of RepresentativesSpeaker of the United States House of Representatives
The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and served as the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011...
said that the measure would be brought to a vote because "While that may have been a long time ago, genocide is taking place now in Darfur, it did within recent memory in Rwanda, so as long as there is genocide there is need to speak out against it..." However, later she was forced to backtrack from a pledge to bring the measure for a vote because of a waning support for this resolution, since many believe that "angering Turkey would hamper efforts in Iraq". Currently the resolution has 215 co-sponsors, comparing to 236 co-sponsors it had earlier this year.
Opposition
The bill has been opposed by the Republic of Turkey, as well as the administration of former U.S. President George W. BushGeorge W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...
urged US lawmakers to drop the resolution. She said: "I continue to believe that the passage of the ... Armenian genocide resolution would severely harm our relationships with Turkey". While a candidate, U.S. President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
stated that he "stood with the Armenian American community in calling for Turkey's acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide", but his Secretary of State
Secretary of State
Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....
Hillary Clinton assured Turkey that the White House opposes the resolution.
Eight former US secretaries of state, both Republican and Democrat, signed a petition calling for refraining from passing this resolution.
Gregory Meeks
Gregory Meeks
Gregory Weldon Meeks is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1998. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes most of Southeastern Queens including Jamaica, Laurelton, Rosedale, Saint Albans, Springfield Gardens, and Far Rockaway, as well as John F. Kennedy International...
, a Democrat representative from New York in the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, voted against the resolution, arguing that Congress should focus on the failings of U.S. history, such as slavery or the killings of Native Americans, before it starts condemning the histories of other countries. He said, "We have failed to do what we're asking other people to do ... We have got to clean up our own house."
Zbigniew Brzezinski
Zbigniew Brzezinski
Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski is a Polish American political scientist, geostrategist, and statesman who served as United States National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981....
, a former U.S. national security adviser, stated in an interview to CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
:
As far as a resolution is concerned, I never realized that the House of Representatives was some sort of an academy of learning that passes judgment on historical events. History's full of terrible crimes, and there is no doubt that many Armenians were massacred in World War I. But whether the House of Representatives should be passing resolutions whether that should be classified as genocide or a huge massacre is I don't think any of its business. It has nothing to do with passing laws, how to run the United States. That's where the constitution created the House of Representatives for.
Columnist Charles Krauthammer
Charles Krauthammer
Charles Krauthammer, MD is an American Pulitzer Prize–winning syndicated columnist, political commentator, and physician. His weekly column appears in The Washington Post and is syndicated to more than 275 newspapers and media outlets. He is a contributing editor to the Weekly Standard and The New...
expressed a similar view, stating "unequivocally" that the Armenian genocide happened, but "unequivocally" that "the U.S. House of Representatives [should not] be expressing itself on this now". Krauthammer also reports that
Even Mesrob Mutafyan, patriarch of the Armenian community in Turkey, has stated that his community is opposed to the resolution, correctly calling it the result of domestic American politics.
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
also stated in an interview to CNN: "I think if I was in Congress I would not vote for it."
The resolution also received negative reactions in mass media. Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist expressed his surprise that “a Congress that has historically lacked the spine or heart to tackle the nation's ugliest legacies in a meaningful way is censuring Turkey”. The newspaper quotes Robert J. Miller, a professor at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Ore., who called it "unbelievable" that Congress is pointing fingers elsewhere while ignoring a U.S. history of black enslavement and the destruction and displacement of Indians.
Republic of Turkey
Turkish ambassador Nabi ŞensoyNabi Sensoy
Nabi Sensoy is a former ambassador of Turkey to the United States. He has been holding that office since January 2006. He was recalled back to Turkey in October 2007 after the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs passed a resolution condemning the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman...
stated: "[genocide] is the greatest accusation of all against humanity... You cannot expect any nation to accept that kind of labeling."
According to the Washington Post, to defeat the initiative for the resolution, the Turkish government "is spending more than $300,000 a month on communications specialists and high-powered lobbyists, including former congressman Bob Livingston".
On October 11, 2007, Gunduz Aktan, a member of the delegation of Turkish parliamentarians, who were in Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
to protest against the resolution, stated:
"What was bothering me yesterday was that those (US representatives) who were supporting the Turkish case, 21 of them, they said loud and clear that the events of 1915 amounted to genocide. Despite this fact, because of the strategic importance of Turkey, because of the national interest of the US, they are voting no. This was unbearable."
Armenian diaspora
According to NewsweekNewsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
:
Comments from Russia
"The Armenian Genocide resolution is a proper test for American democracy. It will uncover priorities of the United States – good relations with Turkey or historical truth", Russian State Duma member, Konstantin ZatulinKonstantin Zatulin
Konstantin Fyodorovich Zatulin is a Russian politician, first deputy chairman of the committee of the State Duma for the CIS and relations with Russian nationals abroad.-Biography:...
told a news conference in Yerevan on 21 October 2007.
External links
- The Murder of a Nation by Henry Morgenthau, Sr.Henry Morgenthau, Sr.Henry Morgenthau was a lawyer, businessman and United States ambassador, most famous as the American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. He was father of the politician Henry Morgenthau, Jr. and the grandfather of Robert M. Morgenthau, who was the District Attorney of...