Turkey rejects resolution passed by the US House of Representatives
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ISLAMABAD - Turkey rejects a resolution passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Armenian claims, the country’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
“We reject the resolution H.R. 296 entitled ‘Affirming the United States Record on the Armenian Genocide’ that is adopted today by the U.S. House of Representatives as expressing the sense of the latter,” the ministry said in a statement, referring to the events of 1915.
Earlier, the House of Representatives passed a resolution recognizing the so-called Armenian genocide, with lawmakers voting 405-11.
“The resolution, which has apparently been drafted and issued for domestic consumption, is devoid of any historical or legal basis,” the ministry said.
Noting that the resolution is not legally binding and a “meaningless political step,” the ministry said it is only addressed to the Armenian lobby and anti-Turkey groups.
“Those who felt defeated for not being able to forestall Operation Peace Spring would be highly mistaken should they think they could take vengeance this way,” it said, referring to Turkey’s anti-terror operation in northern Syria that was launched on Oct. 9.
It added that the Turkish government and people consider the resolution “totally null and void.”
“The resolution as it stands is both against U.S. and international law as it is an incrimination against the principles defined in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,” it said, noting the absence of any verdict from a competent court announcing the 1915 events as a crime of genocide.
“On the contrary, the European Court of Human Rights delivered a milestone judgment which stipulates that the 1915 events constitute a legitimate subject for debate,” it noted.
