"The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee has acted beyond its position, competence and responsibility by adopting a hastily and ineptly prepared draft resolution (S.Res.410) by majority. We reject this attempt of political exploitation that distorts history and law and condemn those who led this prejudiced initiative, which is devoid of any legal ground," the Foreign Ministry of Turkey says in a Press Release Regarding the Draft Armenian Resolution Adopted by the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"In fact, how Turks and Armenians, as the owners of this common history, can together, through dialogue and empathy, reach a just memory of the tragic 1915 events which occurred during the great human sufferings of World War I is already being examined thoroughly and in all its dimensions. In this context, our proposal to establish a Joint Historical Commission, also reflected in the Turkish-Armenian protocols, is still on the agenda," the Turkish Ministry claims.
To recall, for the first time in nearly a quarter century, a U.S. Senate committee adopted an Armenian Genocide Resolution, on 10 April. The Resolution calls upon the Senate to commemorate this crime and encouraging the President to ensure that America's foreign policy reflects and reinforces the lessons, documented in the U.S. record, of this still-unpunished genocide. With a vote of 12 to 5, the Committee voted to condemn and commemorate the Armenian Genocide.
Senator Menendez announced the vote at the Armenian Genocide Observance on Capitol Hill: "Genocide is genocide, and you cannot call it anything else but that and you need to have a recognition of that." Today's vote affirms America's commitment to truth, deals a serious setback to Turkey's campaign of genocide denial, and sends a clear message to President Obama that he must end his Administration's complicity in Ankara's cover-up of this crime," said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA.