Circumstances surrounding Armenian Genocide resolution press for passage

PanARMENIAN.Net - Bipartisan support for the adoption of the Armenian Genocide Resolution, H.Res.106, continues to grow, with new cosponsors joining this measure over the past week from Colorado, Georgia, Maine, Minnesota, Oregon, and Texas, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). The resolution is identical to legislation introduced in the previous session of Congress, which was overwhelmingly approved in the International Relations Committee (now called the Foreign Affairs Committee), only to be blocked from final passage by the House leadership. "The circumstances surrounding this resolution's reintroduction - namely the continued heavy-handed pressure by the Turkish government against any mention of the Armenian Genocide - clearly speak to the pressing need for the passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution," said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.



In another related development, Rep. Frank Pallone, in a February 13th statement on the House floor, condemned Turkish government threats to cut off U.S. supply routes to American troops serving in Iraq if the Armenian Genocide legislation is even considered by Congress. Rep. Pallone stressed that, "such a brazen threat to interfere in U.S. military operations is absolutely unacceptable. I am outraged that the Turkish government would put the lives of soldiers at risk in the pursuit of its desperate campaign to deny the systematic slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians. This extremist behavior is known as blackmail and it should be publicly and forcefully rejected as such. Clearly, Turkey is no friend of the U.S."