The House Foreign Affairs Committee brought the US Congress one step closer to properly condemning as genocide the ongoing ISIL/Da’esh crimes against Christians—including Armenians and Assyrians—as well as Yazidis and other religious minorities in the Middle East, adopting H.Con.Res.75 by voice vote, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
Armenians included in US Congress bill to recognize ISIS actions as genocide
STEPANAKERT, MARCH 3, ARTSAKHPRESS: “The ANCA welcomes the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s passage of H.Con.Res75 as an important step in elevating our government’s response to genocide from a political choice to a moral imperative,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian, reported Asbarez Armenian daily newspaper of the US. “We cannot continue to treat the recognition of genocide — whether it is the systematic destruction of Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians in 1915 or ISIL’s attacks against Christians and other minority groups today – as a geopolitical commodity, to be bartered or bargained away. Our stand against genocide must be unconditional. We urge the Obama Administration and Congress to speak clearly and unequivocally on this matter.”
The move paves the way for full Congressional consideration of the matter and is timed just weeks before a March 17th deadline, when the Obama Administration will be offering its official determination on the matter.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce opened the March 2nd consideration of H.Con.Res.75 with an amended version of the measure which offered broader details about Christian and other minority groups targeted by ISIL, listing Assyrian, Chaldean Syriac, Armenian, and Melkite communities as well as Yezidis, Turkmen, Shabak, Sabaean Mandeans, and Kaka‘i by name. The resolution specifically cites the ISIL crimes against these communities “constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide;” urges all governments – including the U.S. and U.N. – to acknowledge them as such; and calls for a coordinated international campaign to stop the violence.
During Committee debate on the resolution, Congressman Dave Trott cited his trip to Armenia in 2015 to mark the Armenian Genocide Centennial. “I saw first-hand how painful and somber the memory of those atrocities are, even today,” said Rep. Trott, who went on to state, “we have failed to recognize the Armenian Genocide and I urge my colleagues not to make the same mistake again.” Chairman Royce concurred, noting “We can’t afford the same negligence that we saw in the Armenian Genocide with respect to this genocide against the Yezidis and Christians.”
H.Con.Res.75, spearheaded by the Co-Chairs of the House Caucus for Religious Minorities in the Middle East, Rep. Jeff Fortenberry and Anna Eshoo, has bipartisan support from 200 cosponsors. In a press conference hosted by the In Defense of Christians (IDC) in December, Rep. Eshoo, who is of Armenian and Assyrian origin, explained why this issue is so important to her. “This is history for my family that is repeating itself all over again. […] Future generations will look at us and ask ‘did they do anything?’”
