TOP US SENATOR BACKS ‘GENOCIDE’ RESOLUTION
Hurriyet Daily News
Nov 20 2009
Turkey
U.S. Senator Harry Reid has agreed to co-sponsor a Senate resolution
calling on the United States to formally recognize World War I-era
killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as "genocide."
The development was welcomed by U.S. Armenian groups.
"The Armenian Assembly of America [or AAA] welcomed news that Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, has agreed to
cosponsor S. Res. 316, the Armenian genocide resolution," the AAA
said in a written statement late Thursday.
"With his leadership role in the U.S. Senate as majority leader, Sen.
Reid’s addition to the resolution greatly strengthens the growing
list of cosponsors," said Hirair Hovnanian, chairman of the AAA board
of trustees.
The Senate resolution was introduced in October by Democratic Sen.
Robert Menendez and his Republican colleague John Ensign. In a
letter sent to the secretary of state in late October, Reid voiced
his "Nevada constituents’ concerns" over a historic reconciliation
agreement signed between Turkey and Armenia.
Ankara-Yerevan deal
The Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers signed a set of agreements
Oct. 10 under which Ankara and Yerevan would set up normal diplomatic
relations and reopen their land border. The deal, if ratified by the
parliaments of Turkey and Armenia, would effectively end decades of
hostile relations.
But U.S. Armenians are solely focusing on the objective of winning
formal U.S. recognition of the Armenian killings as "genocide."
In addition to the Senate bill, a similar resolution on "genocide
recognition" has been pending in the House of Representatives,
Congress’ lower chamber, since February.
That resolution now has the support of 148 lawmakers out of the 435
House members, the AAA said separately Thursday.
U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration staunchly supports the
Turkish-Armenian reconciliation deal. Analysts suggest that as long
as that deal progresses, genocide-recognition resolutions in the
House and the Senate have little chance of being endorsed.