Turkey Rejects US Resolution on «Armenian Genocide»

By Staff, Al-Jazeera

Turkey rejected the US House of Representatives' official recognition of the "Armenian genocide" a century ago, warning it risks harming ties "at an extremely fragile time" for international and regional security.

In a landmark move on Tuesday, the House approved a resolution calling the early 20^th-century killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks "genocide". The chamber voted 405 to 11 in support of the measure.

"The resolution which has apparently been drafted and issued for domestic consumption is devoid of any historical or legal basis," Turkey's foreign ministry said in a statement after the vote.

"The resolution itself is also not legally binding," the statement said.

"As a meaningless political step, its sole addressees are the Armenian lobby and anti-Turkey groups... The debate on the events that occurred in 1915 belongs to the realm of history, not politics."

On Wednesday morning, Turkey summoned the US ambassador to the country over the resolution. 

In 2017, newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump criticized the killings as "one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century", but in keeping with long-standing US practice, he stopped short of using the word genocide.

Before being elected in 2008, Trump's predecessor Barack Obama had pledged to recognize the "genocide", but ultimately did not do so during his two terms in office.

Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan hailed the House move, tweeting it was a "bold step towards serving truth and historical #justice that also offers comfort to millions of descendants of the Armenian Genocide survivors".

The House also passed a bipartisan measure that imposes sanctions on senior Turkish officials involved in the decision to launch the country's military campaign in Syria, and a Turkish bank with ties to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

It also requires the Trump administration to penalize Turkey's procurement of a Russian-made missile-defense system known as the S-400.

A similar sanctions bill was introduced in the US Senate, but no vote has been taken.