Genocide Prevention Measure Draws on Lessons of the Armenian Genocide

WASHINGTON—With support growing for H.Res.220, and amid broad-based outrage over Turkey’s escalating anti-American actions, the Armenian National Committee of America is organizing a country-wide call in day, Monday, October 16 for this bipartisan genocide prevention measure that draws upon the lessons of the Armenian Genocide.

To take part in the ANCA Call-In Day, simply visit www.anca.org/call and to use the ANCA’s Quick Connect Call feature.

ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian issued a video call-to-action, urging genocide prevention advocates to ask their U.S. Representatives: “Why does Turkey get a veto over honest American remembrance of the Armenian Genocide?” Watch Hamparian’s appeal here:

H.Res.220 currently has over 100 cosponsors from 25 U.S. states. The measure, spearheaded by Reps. David Trott (R-MI) and Adam Schiff (D-CA), seeks to help prevent ongoing atrocities across the Middle East by drawing upon the lessons of the Armenian Genocide. In recent weeks, more than two dozen U.S. Representatives have joined as supporters of this measure.

Key points in support of H.Res.220 are provided below:

•  The U.S. government should draw upon the lessons of the U.S. response to the Armenian Genocide to inform and inspire our modern-day genocide prevention efforts in the Middle East and around the world.
• The genocidal crimes being committed against Christians, Yezidis and others across the Middle East are, in many ways, part of a pattern that began, a century ago, with the Ottoman Empire’s campaign to destroy Armenians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syriacs, Greeks, Pontians, and other religious minorities upon their biblical era homelands.
• The increasingly anti-American and undemocratic government of Turkey has no right to impose a gag-rule against honest American remembrance of the Armenian Genocide.
• An honest understanding of the history of the Armenian Genocide and a truthful appreciation of the genocidal nature of this crime can help save innocent lives today in the Middle East, and, more broadly, will strengthen America’s standing in preventing genocides all around the world.
• H.Res.220 builds upon the official U.S. designation – by both the Legislative and Executive branches – that the atrocities perpetrated by ISIL against Christians, Yezidis, and other religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
• The adoption of H.Res.220 would be consistent with the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by 47 U.S. states and nearly a dozen of our NATO allies.