The House of Representatives adopted a resolution «Affirming the United States record on the Armenian Genocide» (H.Res.296).

Its purpose is not to establish a historical truth, nor to designate culprits and even less to open the door to compensation payments. It is a political motion aiming to assert that the United States opposed the genocide while it was being perpetrated and that it distances itself today from Turkey’s denial stance.

Another draft of this resolution had been tabled in 2007 by House Representative Adam Schiff (Democrat, California), who is also behind H.Res.296. At the time, it failed to pass because of Ankara’s threats against Washington. But in the present context of Turkey‘s intervention against the PKK-YPG Kurds in North-Eastern Syria, it was co-sponsored by 141 lawmakers and adopted, on 29 October 2019, by an overwhelming majority of 405 votes in favor with only 11 against.

In this political climate, it is no surprise that the document glosses over the role played by the Kurdish auxiliary forces in the massacre, and their subsequent seizure of Amenian lands.

An identical text (S.Res.150 - A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that it is the policy of the United States to commemorate the Armenian Genocide through Remembrance) was submitted to the Senate by Robert Menendez (Democrat, New Jersey).