US House passes resolution recognising Armenian Genocide

This resolution marks the first time that a house in US Congress has designated 1915 incidents as genocide.

The US House of Representatives approved H.Res. 296 recognizing 1915 as Armenian Genocide by a vote of 405 to 11.

The resolution foresees that the US recognizes and condemns the incidents between the years of 1915 and 1923 as a "genocide".

Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker from the Democrats, said that she was honored to vote for it "in solemn remembrance of one of the great atrocities of the 20th century: the systematic murder of more than 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children by the Ottoman Empire."

The Resolution furthermore voted that these three comittments should be considered US policies: "To commemorate the Armenian Genocide through official recognition and remembrance; to reject efforts to enlist, engage, or otherwise associate the United States Government with denial of the Armenian Genocide or any other genocide and to encourage education and public understanding of the facts of the Armenian Genocide, including the United States role in the humanitarian relief effort, and the relevance of the Armenian Genocide to modern-day crimes against humanity."

This resolution marks the first time that a house in US Congress has designated 1915 incidents as genocide.