‘ARMENIAN GENOCIDE’ RESOLUTION INTRODUCED IN US CONGRESS

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 19 2015

A group of US Congressmen has introduced a resolution that labels the
killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide, in a move that
is likely to strain Turkish-American relations ahead of a commemoration
at the international level on the centennial of the 1915 events.

Joined by some 40 other members of the US House of Representatives,
Rep. Adam Schiff introduced a bipartisan resolution calling on
President Barack Obama to recognize the 100-year-old atrocities
as genocide.

This is the latest effort of its kind, and is intended to step up
pressure on Turkey to recognize the 1915 events as genocide and to
establish full-fledged diplomatic ties with Armenia.

The Armenian diaspora in the US generally intensifies its lobbying
activities in Congress ahead of April 24, “Armenian Genocide
Remembrance Day,” to push Washington and Congress to endorse a
reference to the killings of Armenians as genocide. Armenians claim
that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed in the Ottoman Empire
around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed by scholars
as the first genocide of the 20th century.

Turkey denies that the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll
has been inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war
and unrest.

The issue has previously roiled US-Turkish relations on numerous
occasions. The resolution also exposed different views among the
Obama administration, which is still opposed to recognizing the
alleged genocide despite intense pressure from the Armenian diaspora.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress