WASHINGTON, DC – Seven new Senators have cosponsored the Genocide Resolution, S.Res.164, bringing the total number of Senators who are supporting the measure to twenty-five, less than a week after its introduction, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

“We appreciate the support of all the Senators who have cosponsored S.Res.164 and will continue working in the coming days and weeks to encourage even greater bipartisan support for the Genocide Resolution,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “Turkey’s recent escalation of its shameful international campaign to deny the Armenian Genocide only underscores the need for this legislation. We must, as a nation, constantly reinforce our commitment to ensuring that the lessons of past genocides are used to prevent future genocides.”

The resolution, introduced on June 9th by Senators John Ensign (R-NV) and Jon Corzine (D-NJ), commemorates the 15th anniversary of the U.S. implementation of the Genocide Convention. It is similar to a resolution introduced last year in the Senate that garnered the support of over 30 Senators. It parallels legislation, H.Res.193, introduced this April in the House of Representatives. The resolution specifically cites the Armenian Genocide, along with the Holocaust and the Cambodian and Rwandan genocides, as an example of past genocide.

Joining Senators Ensign and Corzine as cosponsors are: George Allen (R-VA), Evan Bayh (D-IN), Joe Biden (D-DE), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Kent Conrad (D-ND), Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), Richard Durbin (D-IL), John Edwards (D-NC), Russ Feingold (D-WI), James Jeffords (I-VT), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), John Kerry (D-MA), Herb Kohl (D-WI), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Carl Levin (D-MI), Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), Jack Reed (D-RI), Harry Reid (D-NV), Rick Santorum (R-PA), Paul Sarbanes (D-MD), and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).

A similar measure in the U.S. House, H.Res.193, was unanimously approved by the Judiciary Committee on May 21st.

In recent weeks, the Turkish government has escalated its campaign of Armenian Genocide denial. Recent examples of this escalation include:

* The Turkish government sent Ecvet Tezcan, a confirmed genocide denier from the Turkish Foreign Ministry’s Intelligence and Research Department, to the United States to help derail recent Congressional progress toward the adoption of the Genocide Resolution.

* In Turkey, the Education Minister Huseyin Celik issued a decree requiring the teaching of Armenian Genocide denial to the next generation of Turkey’s school children.

* In Washington, DC, the Turkish Ambassador is personally visiting Congressional offices to demand that any mention of the Armenian Genocide be removed from legislation before the Senate and House.

* The Turkish government has hired a new public relations firm, the Harbour Group, to join their lobbyist, former Congressman Robert Livingston, in his efforts to block the adoption of the Congressional Genocide Resolution.