HOUSE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE OVERWHELMINGLY ADOPTS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE LEGISLATION
Armenian National Committee of America
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release ~ 2005-09-15
WASHINGTON, DC - Following almost three hours of remarks by a bipartisan group of 24 Members of Congress, the House International Relations Committee, today, voted in favor of two measures calling for proper U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide and urging Turkey to end its decades long denial of this crime against humanity, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
[...]
In his concluding remarks, Chairman Hyde responded to arguments that passage of the Genocide resolutions could potentially harm U.S. - Turkey relations. While noting that, "I very much believe the [U.S.-Turkey] relationship is of great importance to us," Rep. Hyde stated, "I don't believe that these resolutions will harm that relationship. They merely recognize the fact that the authorities of the Ottoman Empire deliberately slaughtered the majority of the Armenian community in that Empire." Rep. Hyde went on to note that "denial of that fact cannot be justified on the basis of expediency or fear that speaking the truth will do us harm."
In all, twenty-four Members of the International Relations Committee spoke on the measures, with twenty-one voicing support for Congressional recognition of the Armenian Genocide and three speaking against. The speakers represented a broad bi-partisan spectrum of the Committee, with 15 democrats and 9 Republicans voicing their positions on the issue. Both H.Res.316 and H.Con.Res.195 were adopted by overwhelming margins of 40 to 7 and 35 to 11, respectively. The complete vote tallies will be provided on the Armenian National Committee of America website -- www.anca.org.
Following passage of the measures, Representatives Radanovich, Schiff, Pallone and Knollenberg hailed the Committee's overwhelming approval of the legislation. Rep. Radanovich noted, "The U.S. National Archives is replete with thousands of pages documenting the premeditated extermination of the Armenian people. As the Armenian Genocide was being committed, the United States launched an unprecedented diplomatic, political, and humanitarian struggle to end the carnage and protect the survivors." Rep. Radanovich continued, noting that "I appreciate the bipartisan support for this resolution [H.Res.316], which properly acknowledges the Armenian Genocide, reaffirms the proud and groundbreaking chapter in U.S. history to halt the Genocide, and renews our commitment to preventing other occurrences of man's inhumanity to man."
[...]
Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Frank Pallone stated "[...]. It is now up to Speaker Hastert to realize the importance of this legislation, and finally allow a floor vote. I continue to believe that if the entire House has an opportunity to vote on recognizing the Armenian Genocide, the truth will win out and American recognition will finally occur.
[...]
TURKISH GOVERNMENT/STATE DEPARTMENT OPPOSITION MOUNTS IN DAYS LEADING UP TO COMMITTEE VOTE
{During the mark up} The Turkish Ambassador Faruk Logoglu and [...] , former Congressmen Livingston and Stephen Solarz and their team of lobbyists, were actively seeking to defeat these measures.
Earlier this week, American Turkish Council Chairman, former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft warned Speaker Dennis Hastert that even the discussion of the Armenian Genocide on the floor of the U.S. House would be "counter-productive to the interests of the United States." [...].
The Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) [...] In an unusual development, [...] urged their supporters to actually use the ANCA website and its powerful WebFax capabilities to attempt the defeat of the measures. The ANCA blocked all efforts along these lines.
Both the ATC and ATAA have come under scrutiny in recent weeks as the result of a 10-page story in Vanity Fair detailing FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmond's reports that it's officials were involved in illegal efforts to defeat Armenian Genocide legislation in the fall of 2000. [...].
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release ~ 2005-09-15
WASHINGTON, DC - Following almost three hours of remarks by a bipartisan group of 24 Members of Congress, the House International Relations Committee, today, voted in favor of two measures calling for proper U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide and urging Turkey to end its decades long denial of this crime against humanity, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
[...]
In his concluding remarks, Chairman Hyde responded to arguments that passage of the Genocide resolutions could potentially harm U.S. - Turkey relations. While noting that, "I very much believe the [U.S.-Turkey] relationship is of great importance to us," Rep. Hyde stated, "I don't believe that these resolutions will harm that relationship. They merely recognize the fact that the authorities of the Ottoman Empire deliberately slaughtered the majority of the Armenian community in that Empire." Rep. Hyde went on to note that "denial of that fact cannot be justified on the basis of expediency or fear that speaking the truth will do us harm."
In all, twenty-four Members of the International Relations Committee spoke on the measures, with twenty-one voicing support for Congressional recognition of the Armenian Genocide and three speaking against. The speakers represented a broad bi-partisan spectrum of the Committee, with 15 democrats and 9 Republicans voicing their positions on the issue. Both H.Res.316 and H.Con.Res.195 were adopted by overwhelming margins of 40 to 7 and 35 to 11, respectively. The complete vote tallies will be provided on the Armenian National Committee of America website -- www.anca.org.
Following passage of the measures, Representatives Radanovich, Schiff, Pallone and Knollenberg hailed the Committee's overwhelming approval of the legislation. Rep. Radanovich noted, "The U.S. National Archives is replete with thousands of pages documenting the premeditated extermination of the Armenian people. As the Armenian Genocide was being committed, the United States launched an unprecedented diplomatic, political, and humanitarian struggle to end the carnage and protect the survivors." Rep. Radanovich continued, noting that "I appreciate the bipartisan support for this resolution [H.Res.316], which properly acknowledges the Armenian Genocide, reaffirms the proud and groundbreaking chapter in U.S. history to halt the Genocide, and renews our commitment to preventing other occurrences of man's inhumanity to man."
[...]
Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Frank Pallone stated "[...]. It is now up to Speaker Hastert to realize the importance of this legislation, and finally allow a floor vote. I continue to believe that if the entire House has an opportunity to vote on recognizing the Armenian Genocide, the truth will win out and American recognition will finally occur.
[...]
TURKISH GOVERNMENT/STATE DEPARTMENT OPPOSITION MOUNTS IN DAYS LEADING UP TO COMMITTEE VOTE
{During the mark up} The Turkish Ambassador Faruk Logoglu and [...] , former Congressmen Livingston and Stephen Solarz and their team of lobbyists, were actively seeking to defeat these measures.
Earlier this week, American Turkish Council Chairman, former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft warned Speaker Dennis Hastert that even the discussion of the Armenian Genocide on the floor of the U.S. House would be "counter-productive to the interests of the United States." [...].
The Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) [...] In an unusual development, [...] urged their supporters to actually use the ANCA website and its powerful WebFax capabilities to attempt the defeat of the measures. The ANCA blocked all efforts along these lines.
Both the ATC and ATAA have come under scrutiny in recent weeks as the result of a 10-page story in Vanity Fair detailing FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmond's reports that it's officials were involved in illegal efforts to defeat Armenian Genocide legislation in the fall of 2000. [...].
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 7:02 AM
1 Comments:
This historic day is long overdue. Speaker Hastert has a moral obligation to bring these resolutions to the House floor for a fair up or down vote. It is time to finally bring closure to this sad event in Armenian history. It is disgraceful that Turkish apologists such as Brent Scowcroft and Bob Livingston have continued to try and prevent this common sense legislation from moving forward.
jeff
www.vochmeban.blogspot.com
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