October 28, 2019
The Anti-Defamation League has called upon the U.S. House of Representatives to pass H. Res. 296, which affirms the United States record on the Armenian Genocide; it also endorsed S. Res. 150, the corresponding resolution in the U.S. Senate.
Calling it long overdue, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt stated that the resolution “is an important step toward raising awareness and educating the American public about the horrific genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire against Armenians during the early part of the 1900s,” and pointed out that “historians note that Hitler viewed the Armenian Genocide and the world's indifference toward it as inspiration to launch his own genocidal campaign across Europe.”
“We believe that remembering and educating about any genocide — Armenian, the Holocaust, Bosnia, Rwanda, and others — is a necessary tool to prevent future tragedies and begins with recognition,” he added.
Greenblatt also called upon the Turkish government “to introduce additional safeguards for protecting Turkey’s Armenian citizens and other religious minorities.”
H. Res. 296 resolves, “That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that it is the policy of the United States to (1) commemorate the Armenian Genocide through official recognition and remembrance; (2) reject efforts to enlist, engage, or otherwise associate the United States Government with denial of the Armenian Genocide or any other genocide; and (3) encourage education and public understanding of the facts of the Armenian Genocide, including the United States role in the humanitarian relief effort, and the relevance of the Armenian Genocide to modern-day crimes against humanity.”
