CONGRESSMAN MICHAEL MCMAHON: ADOPTION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION WILL "HARM KARABAKH ISSUE"

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.03.2010 21:19 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ I respect the memory of victims of tragic events
in Ottoman Empire; I also support Armenia-Turkey rapprochement and
Karabakh conflict settlement, Congressman Michael McMahon stated.

As he noted at the hearing of U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs,
adoption of resolution will seriously harm US’ efforts in Afghanistan.

"Adoption of Armenian Genocide resolution will harm Armenia-Turkey
rapprochement as well as Karabakh issue. "I support withdrawal of US
forces from Afghanistan. In case Turkey’s territory becomes closed
to US, we will be induced to withdraw forces through more dangerous
routes," he stressed.

Based on the above, Congressman urged the Committee to vote against
the resolution.

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic
destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during
and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres, and
deportations involving forced marches under conditions designed to
lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths
reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the
Genocide survivors.

To date, twenty countries and 44 U.S. states have officially recognized
the events of the period as genocide, and most genocide scholars and
historians accept this view.