Post by BettyNewbie on Oct 29, 2019 20:56:50 GMT -5
Something good just happened.
This is, no doubt, a result of the US' recent falling-out with Turkey, who is currently practicing a similar genocide against the Kurds (as well as a second genocide against the Armenians and Assyrians still living in Northern Syria).
Either way, it's good to see a very forgotten genocide finally get recognition from the biggest superpower of The West. The severe oppression of Christian minorities in the Middle East deserves far more attention than it gets (and by that, I don't mean the hollow, appropriative "attention" Teabaggers/Alt-Righters give it as an excuse to spread racist Islamophobia).
US House overwhelmingly votes to recognize Armenian genocide
The US House of Representatives has voted overwhelmingly to recognize the Armenian genocide of a century ago, stepping into a fraught historical debate at a particularly tense moment for the US-Turkey relationship.
The House voted 405-11 in favor of the resolution, which is not legally binding, to formally recognize the systematic killing of 1.5 million Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, modern-day Turkey, as a “genocide”.
Earlier on Tuesday, the House voted 403 to 16 to impose sanctions on Turkey, in a striking rebuke of Donald Trump after he pulled American forces from northern Syria following a phone call with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, paving the way for Turkey’s assault on Kurdish-held areas in northern Syria.
The Turkish government has long denied the term genocide to describe the slaughter and has waged a lobbying campaign in the US and around the world to discourage the use of that word in reference to the killings.
Many countries and nearly all US states officially recognize the killings as genocide. But the US Congress has resisted pressure in recent years by activists out of a desire not to inflame tensions with a Nato ally. Support for a resolution grew, particularly among Democrats, after Trump enabled the Turkish offensive against the Kurdish groups.
The US had previously allied with Syrian Kurdish forces against militants of the Islamic State group. The Turkish offensive left scores of Kurdish fighters and civilians dead and displaced hundreds of thousands more.
“If we ignore history, then we are destined to witness the mistakes of the past be repeated,” the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said, urging support for the resolution on Tuesday. “Recent attacks by the Turkish military against the Kurdish people are a stark reminder of the danger in our own time.”
The California Democrat Adam Schiff, a sponsor of the resolution, said in a statement: “The House declared that it will no longer be party to the cause of genocide denial. This is a vote I have fought for 19 years to make possible, and one that tens of thousands of my Armenian American constituents have worked, struggled, and prayed for decades to see.”
The vote on the bipartisan resolution came on the heels of House passage of economic sanctions against Turkey.
The US House of Representatives has voted overwhelmingly to recognize the Armenian genocide of a century ago, stepping into a fraught historical debate at a particularly tense moment for the US-Turkey relationship.
The House voted 405-11 in favor of the resolution, which is not legally binding, to formally recognize the systematic killing of 1.5 million Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, modern-day Turkey, as a “genocide”.
Earlier on Tuesday, the House voted 403 to 16 to impose sanctions on Turkey, in a striking rebuke of Donald Trump after he pulled American forces from northern Syria following a phone call with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, paving the way for Turkey’s assault on Kurdish-held areas in northern Syria.
The Turkish government has long denied the term genocide to describe the slaughter and has waged a lobbying campaign in the US and around the world to discourage the use of that word in reference to the killings.
Many countries and nearly all US states officially recognize the killings as genocide. But the US Congress has resisted pressure in recent years by activists out of a desire not to inflame tensions with a Nato ally. Support for a resolution grew, particularly among Democrats, after Trump enabled the Turkish offensive against the Kurdish groups.
The US had previously allied with Syrian Kurdish forces against militants of the Islamic State group. The Turkish offensive left scores of Kurdish fighters and civilians dead and displaced hundreds of thousands more.
“If we ignore history, then we are destined to witness the mistakes of the past be repeated,” the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said, urging support for the resolution on Tuesday. “Recent attacks by the Turkish military against the Kurdish people are a stark reminder of the danger in our own time.”
The California Democrat Adam Schiff, a sponsor of the resolution, said in a statement: “The House declared that it will no longer be party to the cause of genocide denial. This is a vote I have fought for 19 years to make possible, and one that tens of thousands of my Armenian American constituents have worked, struggled, and prayed for decades to see.”
The vote on the bipartisan resolution came on the heels of House passage of economic sanctions against Turkey.
This is, no doubt, a result of the US' recent falling-out with Turkey, who is currently practicing a similar genocide against the Kurds (as well as a second genocide against the Armenians and Assyrians still living in Northern Syria).
Either way, it's good to see a very forgotten genocide finally get recognition from the biggest superpower of The West. The severe oppression of Christian minorities in the Middle East deserves far more attention than it gets (and by that, I don't mean the hollow, appropriative "attention" Teabaggers/Alt-Righters give it as an excuse to spread racist Islamophobia).