Tweet
House panel will debate genocide
By Lisa Friedman
Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Rep. Adam Schiff, D- Pasadena, announced late Wednesday that the House International Relations Committee has agreed to take up the contentious debate over whether Congress should officially call the massacre of Armenians during World War I a "genocide."
Schiff, who has written a resolution supporting recognition of the genocide, said he secured an agreement from committee Chairman Henry Hyde to hear the matter. Hyde promised that the committee would debate and vote on his resolution "in a timely fashion," Schiff said.
In exchange, Schiff said he agreed to withdraw two amendments to a foreign policy bill under debate. One of them would have asked for an accounting of U.S. responses to Armenian, Cambodian and Rwandan genocides as well as the Holocaust; the other would have condemned Turkey's blockade of Armenia.
The deal came as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in Washington with President George W. Bush, where both declared a strong alliance.
Schiff said he believed he was able to strike the deal because House Republican leaders who have opposed the genocide resolution fearing it could endanger U.S./Turkish relations, "weren't sure that they could defeat my amendments and they were also concerned about the timing of the amendments during the prime minister's visit."
Attempts to reach both Armenian and Turkish officials for comment late Wednesday were unsuccessful.
Armenian-Americans say 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923. Turkish officials say far fewer people died amid a multiparty conflict.
The last time the International Relations Committee held a hearing on the issue was in 2000 as a political favor to then-Rep. James Rogan, who was facing a tough re-election battle against Schiff.
Officials estimate there are more than 300,000 Armenian-Americans in Southern California, about a third of them in the Glendale area.
Link
By Lisa Friedman
Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Rep. Adam Schiff, D- Pasadena, announced late Wednesday that the House International Relations Committee has agreed to take up the contentious debate over whether Congress should officially call the massacre of Armenians during World War I a "genocide."
Schiff, who has written a resolution supporting recognition of the genocide, said he secured an agreement from committee Chairman Henry Hyde to hear the matter. Hyde promised that the committee would debate and vote on his resolution "in a timely fashion," Schiff said.
In exchange, Schiff said he agreed to withdraw two amendments to a foreign policy bill under debate. One of them would have asked for an accounting of U.S. responses to Armenian, Cambodian and Rwandan genocides as well as the Holocaust; the other would have condemned Turkey's blockade of Armenia.
The deal came as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in Washington with President George W. Bush, where both declared a strong alliance.
Schiff said he believed he was able to strike the deal because House Republican leaders who have opposed the genocide resolution fearing it could endanger U.S./Turkish relations, "weren't sure that they could defeat my amendments and they were also concerned about the timing of the amendments during the prime minister's visit."
Attempts to reach both Armenian and Turkish officials for comment late Wednesday were unsuccessful.
Armenian-Americans say 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923. Turkish officials say far fewer people died amid a multiparty conflict.
The last time the International Relations Committee held a hearing on the issue was in 2000 as a political favor to then-Rep. James Rogan, who was facing a tough re-election battle against Schiff.
Officials estimate there are more than 300,000 Armenian-Americans in Southern California, about a third of them in the Glendale area.
Link
Comment