The U.S. Congress is poised to vote next week on a resolution to commemorate the 1915 Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire, a move that supporters say is driven in part by fears of potential Turkish atrocities against the Kurds in northern Syria, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
Most international scholars and 29 countries recognise the events starting in 1915 as a genocide; Turkey, however, admits that massacres took place but rejects the term genocide.
The United States has issued annual statements on Apr. 24, the date when mass deportations began in 1915, now held as the annual Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.
The U.S. Congress has considered moving a similar resolution to recognise the Armenian genocide several times over the last several decades, but has pulled back due to pressure from Turkey and the U.S. administrations’ concerns about alienating a NATO ally, the WSJ said.
“Turkey opposes all legislative steps and other official acts that try to render judgment on its history. This issue should be left to the historians,” the Turkish Embassy in Washington said this week in a written statement.
The embassy said that the resolution would not serve the interests of Turks and Armenians, and also of the United States.
“While the State Department does not generally comment on pending legislation, our policy on this issue is clear: The United States recognises the Meds Yeghern was one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century,” a State Department spokeswoman told the WSJ, using an Armenian phrase that means “great calamity” instead of genocide.
Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America, said the State Department’s statement could be interpreted as neutral on the resolution. “It could serve as a signal to the president’s allies on the Hill,” he said.
Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, the only Armenian-Assyrian member of Congress who pushed for the vote, said in an interview that a historical bell had rung in her mind when she had learned about U.S. President Donald Trump’s plans to withdraw American troops in northern Syria to clear the way for Ankara’s military operations into Kurdish-controlled territories along its border that was launched on Oct. 9 and lasted nine-days.
Eshoo’s personal appeal carried weight because she lost family members in the massacre and her parents fled persecution in the region, but she said there was already support for the resolution.
“Each leader that I spoke to agreed that they thought it should be brought up, so there wasn’t any hesitation on anyone’s part,” Eshoo said.