'Armenian genocide' bill doesn't reach US House, Armenians say

A U.S. Armenian campaign to pass the "Armenian genocide" resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives has failed, major Armenian groups reported late on Wednesday.

"Despite a broad bipartisan majority of U.S. representatives prepared to vote in favor of the Armenian Genocide Resolution [H.Res. 252], U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi chose today to let this session of Congress expire without bringing this human rights legislation to a vote," Armenian National Committee of America, or ANCA said in a statement on its website.

The Armenian Assembly of America, another major U.S. Armenian group, also reported in the last minutes of Wednesday's House meeting that "the House adjourns before considering final action on the Armenian genocide resolution."

The Armenian statements came as the House meeting was continuing. The Armenians last week launched a grassroots campaign urging Pelosi to schedule a House floor vote on the "genocide" measure, which passed in the House Foreign Affairs Committee in March.

After Wednesday's meeting, the current House, Congress' lower chamber, will end its session, and the new Congress elected in the midterm elections on Nov. 2 will take office on Jan. 3.

Armenia claims up to 1.5 million Armenians were systematically killed in 1915 under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey denies this, saying a much smaller number of deaths were the result of civil strife that erupted when Armenians took up arms in eastern Anatolia.


/Hurriyet Daily News/