PanARMENIAN.Net
Circumstances surrounding Armenian Genocide resolution press for passage
16.02.2007 13:52 GMT+04:00
/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."