House Mulls Armenian Resolution

HOUSE MULLS ARMENIAN RESOLUTION

Middle East Newsline, Canada
Sept 19 2005

WASHINGTON [MENL] — The House of Representatives was expected to
examine a resolution that blames Turkey for the genocide of Armenians
in World War I.

The House International Relations Committee has passed two resolutions
that blame the Ottoman Empire for the killing of about 1.5 million
Armenians in Turkey from 1915-1923. On Sept. 15, the committee voted
for the resolutions by wide margins despite warnings from the Bush
administration that this could harm U.S.-Turkish relations.

The resolutions demands that Turkey accept responsibility for
the killing of Armenians and that the U.S. president consider the
genocide in American foreign policy. The House panel also called for
U.S. commemoration of the Armenian genocide.

House International Relations Committee chairman Rep. Henry Hyde
voted for the resolutions. Hyde said the resolutions would not harm
relations with Turkey.