Never in 35 years had such legislation been considered in plenary sitting in the House. US representatives adopted Tuesday, October 29 with an overwhelming majority of 405 votes out of 435, a text recognizing as genocide the massacres of Armenians perpetrated under the Ottoman Empire more than a century ago. The result of the vote was welcomed by applause in the hemicycle.
In the wake of this vote, the elected representatives of the two parties adopted in the House a text asking President Donald Trump to impose sanctions against Turkey for its offensive in northern Syria.
No vote on these texts is currently scheduled in the Senate, controlled by the Republicans, while these measures are able to stir tensions between the United States and Turkey.
"Barbaric acts"
"Too often, tragically, the reality of this abominable crime has been denied.Today, we clearly say, in this hemicycle, that it is engraved in the marble of the annals of Congress: the barbaric acts committed against the people Armenians are genocide, "said Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.
The American reality star Kim Kardashian had in the morning called on Twitter Congress to "act out". According to estimates, between 500,000 and 1.5 million Americans, like her, have Armenian origins.
The US Congress has refused for decades to adopt a text recognizing the genocide of Armenians for fear of complicating relations with Ankara and intense lobbying by the Turkish government.
Turkey angry
He reacted in the wake of the vote by the Foreign Ministry, which denounced the resolution passed in the US House of Representatives as a measure "devoid of any historical or legal basis." "Insignificant political measure, its only recipients are the Armenian lobby and anti-Turkey groups," Turkish diplomacy said in a statement.
Regarding the resolution calling for sanctions against Ankara, the Turkish Foreign Ministry denounces a text "incompatible with the spirit of our alliance within NATO" and in contradiction with the cease-fire agreement for northern Syria concluded on October 17 between the Turkish and American governments.
For his part, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan "hailed the historic vote of the US Congress recognizing the Armenian Genocide", saying that this resolution "is a bold step towards truth and historical justice that also offers comfort to millions of people. descendants of the survivors of the Armenian genocide, "he tweeted.
I salute the US Congress historic vote recognizing the Armenian Genocide. Resolution 296 is a bold step towards serving truth and justice #justice that also offers comfort to millions of descendants of the Armenian genocide survivors.
Nikol Pashinyan (@NikolPashinyan) October 29, 2019Armenia, supported by many historians and world parliaments, estimates that 1.5 million people were systematically killed between 1915 and 1917 at the end of the Ottoman Empire, which is now eastern. Turkey.
With Reuters and AFP