Congressional Leaders Call on President Trump to Reaffirm Armenian Genocide

Bipartisan Letter Urges President to Reject Turkey’s Gag-Rule

WASHINGTON””The chairmen and ranking members on both the House Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committees on Monday joined with the leadership of the Armenian Caucus and more than eighty of their U.S. House colleagues in calling upon President Trump to properly commemorate the Armenian Genocide in his April 24th White House statement, reported the Armenian National Committee of America.

In a bipartisan letter calling upon the President to “appropriately mark April 24th as a day of American remembrance of the Armenian Genocide, signatories noted that, “by commemorating the Armenian Genocide, we renew our commitment to prevent future atrocities.”

“We join with Members of Congress in calling upon President Trump to reject Turkey’s gag rule and embrace an honest American remembrance of the Armenian Genocide,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “It’s long past time for America to stop outsourcing our national policy on the Armenian Genocide to Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian and anti-American regime.”

Joining Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Jackie Speier (D-CA), Dave Trott (R-MI) and David Valadao (R-CA) and Vice-Chairs Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) are Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee; Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee; Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), Chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY), Chairman of the Democratic Caucus; Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA), Vice Chair of the Democratic Caucus; Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations; Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations; Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL), Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Middle East and North Africa; Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific; Rep. Albio Sires (D-NJ), Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere; Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), Ranking Member of the Appropriations Committee; Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN), Ranking Member of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee; Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Ranking Member of the Natural Resources Committee; Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee; Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY), Ranking Member of the Budget Committee; Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), Co-Chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission; and Representatives Pete Aguilar (D-CA), Dave Brat (R-VA), Ken Calvert (R-CA), Michael Capuano (D-MA), Salud Carbajal (D-CA), Tony Cardenas (D-CA), Judy Chu (D-CA), David Cicilline (D-RI), Katherine Clark (D-MA), Mike Coffman (R-CO), Luis Correa (D-CA), Jim Costa (D-CA), Joe Courtney (D-CT), Jeff Denham (R-CA), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA), Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Jared Huffman (D-CA), Joe Kennedy (D-MA), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Jim Langevin (D-RI), Brenda Lawrence (D-MI), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Sander Levin (D-MI), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Dan Lipinski (D-IL), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), Doris Matsui (D-CA), Betty McCollum (D-MN), Seth Moulton (D-MA), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), Collin Peterson (D-MN), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Jared Polis (D-CO), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Kathleen Rice (D-NY), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Tim Ryan (D-OH), John Sarbanes (D-MD), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Mark Takano (D-CA), Dina Titus (D-NV), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Norma Torres (D-CA), and Niki Tsongas (D-MA).

In calling upon President Trump to properly mark April 24th, the signatories highlighted the U.S. record of past recognition, including “President Reagan, who recognized the Armenian Genocide in 1981, and the Eisenhower Administration, which did the same in a 1951 submission to the International Court of Justice.”