Washington, D.C.- Today, the House of Representatives voted 405 yays to 11 nays, to recognize the Armenian Genocide, a clear condemnation of the Turkish government’s denial of the atrocities committed by their predecessor’s against Christians. More than a century after this crime by the Ottoman Empire, in which they took the lives of 1.5 million Armenians Christians, the United States federal government is rejecting genocide denial and formally recognizing the Armenian Genocide. The resolution also identifies the genocidal attacks of the Ottoman Empire towards the Greeks, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syriacs, Arameans, Maronites, and other Christians. In Defense of Christians would like to thank Congressman Adam Schiff of California for his leadership on this resolution. Additionally, we thank the congressional leaders that IDC works with, including Mr. Bilirakis of Florida, Mr. McGovern of Massachusetts, Mr. Raskin of Maryland, Ms. Chu of California, Ms. Eshoo of California, Mr. Correa of California, Mrs. Maloney of New York, Mr. Lieu of California, Mr. Lipinski of Illinois, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Schneider of Illinois, Mr. Crenshaw of Texas, Mrs. Lesko of Arizona, Mr. Gottheimer of New Jersey, Mr. Harder of California, Mr. Sherman of California, Ms.Speier of California, and Mr. Lofgren of California, on getting this resolution passed. "The Christians all across the Middle East were impacted by the Armenian Genocide. In Lebanon, 250,000 Maronites were starved to death by the Ottoman Empire. My family was forced to flee and came to America. By passing this resolution today, American has said clearly that we side with the victims of atrocities and will no longer ignore the Turk's history of ethnic cleansing." - Toufic Baaklini ### |
