House recognizes Armenian genocide

On October 29, the United States House of Representatives passed a motion to recognize the Armenian genocide and denounce the atrocities committed in what was then part of the Ottoman Empire.

In 1915, as the Ottoman Empire was fighting in World War 1, it tried to remove its Armenian population due to some Armenians supporting the Russian efforts against the Ottomans in the war. The Ottoman government tried to forcibly remove the Armenian population and, in the process, atrocities and war crimes were committed. This led to an Armenian diaspora with many Armenians being forced to flee into Russia or other countries, including the United States.

Despite vocal Turkish disagreement over the past century, much of the Western world has labeled the Ottoman actions towards the Armenians in World War 1 as genocide. The House of Representatives has finally, decisively recognized the genocide after long years of official United States foreign policy being the avoidance of such recognition in order to not upset the Turkish government, a member of NATO. Some politicians and political analysts have pointed to the recent Turkish attacks against the Kurdish forces in Northern Syria as a potential motivation behind the House finally deciding to pass a resolution recognizing the genocide. Regardless of the exact motivations behind it, this resolution found broad bipartisan support in the House and was passed with an overwhelming majority of 405 to 11. Despite this show of unity, a handful of Representatives, like Democrat Ilhan Ohmar from Minnesota, pointed out the fact that although recognizing the Armenian Genocide was a positive step, that more should be done to recognize or otherwise address the genocides that the United States or other actors on the world stage are accused of committing.

The House’s decision to finally recognize these past crimes does open the debate as to what other past crimes against humanity should be evaluated, given a second look, or recognized. No matter where this decision may lead, however, this recognition is a good sign of progress.

Joe Doner - Political Editor