Glendale News Press
Published June 10, 2005
Schiff secures resolution hearing
By Robert Chacon, News-Press and Leader
Threatened by the attachment of two amendments by Rep. Adam Schiff to a
state department bill, House International Relations Committee Chairman
Henry Hyde committed to a hearing on an Armenian Genocide resolution, Schiff
said.
Hyde agreed to the hearing if Schiff removed amendments requiring extensive
efforts by the U.S. Government to conduct analysis of diplomatic responses
to the Armenian, Cambodian and Rwandan genocides and the Holocaust. The
amendment would have also required the U.S. to call for an end to Turkey’s
ongoing blockade with Armenia.
Hyde guaranteed the hearing out of concern that Schiff’s amendments would
be approved, Schiff said.
“We were able to use the proposed amendment to secure commitment from
Chairman Hyde to hear a dedicated Armenian Genocide resolution, which I will
be introducing in the next couple of weeks,” Schiff said. “This is something
the full committee has not done for half a decade.”
Schiff called the guaranteed debate and vote on his resolution a
breakthrough in light of the 90th anniversary of the genocide, during which
1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Empire.
Schiff’s bill has been defeated the past two years.
Leaders in Congress and President Bush’s administration have been hesitant
to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide out of fear of offending U.S. ally
Turkey, Schiff said.
“If that is the standard we will use to recognize the genocide, then that is
not a principled position for us to take,” he said. “Turkey will have to
come to grips with its Ottoman past. It is better to do it now, and the U.S.
needs to show some leadership.”