Community | March 04, 2010 | 6 comments

Congress steps closer to calling it "Armenian Genocide"

Demonstrators marching on the anniversary of the 1915 massacres / April 2009

Armenians have insisted for several decades that the massacre of thousands of their kinsmen in 1915 by Turkish troops should be termed a 'genocide'. Turkey has, for just as long, disagreed. The US government has never officially called it the "Armenian Genocide", but it seems like they may have come a step closer today. From the New York Times:

The House Foreign Affairs Committee voted narrowly on Thursday to condemn as genocide the mass killings of Armenians early in the last century, defying a last-minute plea from the Obama administration to forgo a vote that seemed sure to offend Ankara and jeopardize delicate efforts at Turkish-Armenian reconciliation. The vote on the nonbinding resolution, a perennial point of friction addressing a dark, century-old chapter of Turkish history, was 23-to-22. A similar resolution passed by a slightly wider margin in 2007, but the Bush administration, fearful of losing Turkish cooperation over Iraq, lobbied forcefully to keep it from reaching the House floor. Whether this resolution will reach a floor vote remains unclear.

Turkey has recalled its ambassador to the US - a worrying sign for the Obama Administration's efforts to maintain close relations with its largest Muslim ally. What do you think? Should the US recognize the massacre as "genocide"?

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6 comments // Congress steps closer to calling it "Armenian Genocide"

  • crystalman
    • -2
      crystalman  

    • Obama vs. Obama. During his election campaign Mr Obama promised to brand the mass killings genocide. Now he tries to block the vote. Impeach this charlatan and liar.

    • 2 years ago
  • Saladin
  • ThomasZD
    • 0
      ThomasZD  

    • what repercussions come with the label? just wondering. i mean it was 100 years ago, and i understand the need for recognizing history for what it truly is, but is there some sort of economic sanction or punishment that turkey will receive if this is true? i doubt it, but does any one know?

    • 2 years ago
  • Katmai512
  • Saladin
    • +1
      Saladin  

    • Holy shit, they recalled their ambassador?

      This is serious stuff, Turkey is one of our only real allies in the middle east.

      Why are they so sensitive about the Armenian Genocide?

    • 2 years ago
afitzgerald
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