Move from Senate ahead of Obama visit

WASHINGTON – While it is not clear whe Obama for America ther United States President Barack Obama will keep his promise to recognize the Armenians’ claims of genocide, a group of pro-Armenian lawmakers formally introduces a resolution calling for the US government’s recognition, as this year’s April 24 statement looms on the horizon

A group of pro-Armenian U.S. lawmakers Tuesday formally introduced a resolution calling for the U.S. government’s recognition of the Armenians’ claims of genocide.

Democratic congressmen Adam Schiff and Frank Pallone and Republican congressmen George Radanovich and Mark Kirk authored the legislation, and 77 out of 435 lawmakers in the House of Representatives, Congress’s lower chamber, cosponsored it.

This number was considerably smaller than the over 160 original cosponsors who had backed the last similar resolution introduced in the previous House in January 2007.

The legislation’s introduction came less than three weeks before President Barack Obama’s planned visit to Ankara and Istanbul.

During last year’s presidential election campaign, Obama had pledged to recognize the Armenian killings as genocide, if elected.

Moral obligation

But it is not clear if he, in his expected April 24 statement on Armenian deaths, will qualify the killings as genocide, or if he will support the latest House resolution.

Turkey warns that any formal U.S. recognition will damage bilateral relations in a major and lasting way.

Supporters of the resolution argue that the United States has a moral obligation to recognize the killings regardless of the foreign policy implications.

“The facts of history are clear, well documented, and non-negotiable,” said Schiff.

U.S. Armenian groups welcomed the resolution’s introduction and urged Obama to keep last year’s promise.

“We look, in the coming days and weeks, for the president to honor his pledge, to fully support this legislation, and to raise the discourse in Washington on the Armenian genocide from the level of Turkey’s threats and denials up to the level of the core moral and humanitarian values of the American people,” said Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian Narional Committee of America.

“This legislation is an opportunity for the United States to assume a leadership role in genocide affirmation and genocide prevention,” said Bryan Ardouny, executive director of the Armenian Assembly of America.

To pass, the resolution needs to be approved first by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and then in a House floor vote. But even if it passes, it will not have a binding effect for the U.S. administration’s policies and will reflect “the sense of Congress.”

April 24 statement

It is not clear when the resolution could come to the Foreign Affairs Committee’s agenda.

At a time when Turkey and Armenia are working on a package to normalize their relations, most analysts agree that Obama is not expected to qualify the Armenian killings as genocide in this year’s April 24 statement.

“At this moment, our focus is on how, moving forward, the United States can help Armenia and Turkey work together to come to terms with the past,” said Mike Hammer, spokesman for Obama’s National Security Council. The last resolution was passed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee in October 2007. But it was then shelved and never came to a House floor vote following efforts by then-president George W. Bush’s administration’s efforts to stall it.

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