IV 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 195 
Commemorating the Armenian Genocide of 1915–1923, urging the Govern-
ment of the Republic of Turkey to acknowledge the culpability of its 
predecessor state, the Ottoman Empire, for the Armenian Genocide and 
engage in rapprochement with the Republic of Armenia and the Arme-
nian people, and supporting the accession of Turkey to the European 
Union if Turkey meets certain criteria. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 29, 2005 
Mr. SCHIFF submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred 
to the Committee on International Relations 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Commemorating the Armenian Genocide of 1915–1923, urg-
ing the Government of the Republic of Turkey to ac-
knowledge the culpability of its predecessor state, the 
Ottoman Empire, for the Armenian Genocide and engage 
in rapprochement with the Republic of Armenia and 
the Armenian people, and supporting the accession of 
Turkey to the European Union if Turkey meets certain 
criteria. 
Whereas the 20th century was the bloodiest in history and 
saw the application of the tools of the modern industrial 
state to mass killings which have come to be called geno-
cide;
•HCON 195 IH 
Whereas 20th century genocides have included the Armenian 
Genocide, the Holocaust, the Cambodian Genocide, and 
the Rwandan Genocide; 
Whereas the Government of Sudan is currently engaged in a 
genocide against the people of Darfur, Sudan; 
Whereas the consequences of these genocides continue to af-
fect all humanity, especially those who have been its vic-
tims; 
Whereas only by acknowledging responsibility and reconciling 
with the victims can a nation or people that committed 
genocide fully return to the community of nations; 
Whereas the Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the 
20th century; 
Whereas the Armenian Genocide was conceived and carried 
out by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, prior to 
the establishment of the Republic of Turkey; 
Whereas in August 1914, the Ottoman Government formed 
a paramilitary organization called the Special Organiza-
tion; 
Whereas the Special Organization created units called 
‘‘butcher battalions’’, which were made up of violent 
criminals released from prison, to carry out the extermi-
nation of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Em-
pire; 
Whereas in February 1915, the Ottoman Government or-
dered Armenian men serving in the army disarmed and 
organized into forced labor groups; 
Whereas on the night of April 23–24, 1915, hundreds of Ar-
menian intellectuals and community leaders were sum-
marily arrested in Constantinople;
•HCON 195 IH 
Whereas this was the first of a series of roundups of Arme-
nian politicians, priests, scientists, lawyers, doctors, and 
writers of the Ottoman Empire, most of whom were killed 
soon after; 
Whereas the first mass deportations began in late March 
1915 in the region of Cilicia, on the coast of the Medi-
terranean Sea, according to an extensive plan of deporta-
tion and elimination of the Armenian population of the 
Ottoman Empire that was prepared by Talat Pasha, the 
head of the government; 
Whereas notices of deportation were posted in public places 
and the news announced publicly in the streets of Arme-
nian towns and villages; 
Whereas the Ottoman Government’s campaign resulted in the 
deportation of nearly 2,000,000 Armenians, of whom 
1,500,000 men, women, and children were killed, 500,000 
survivors were expelled from their homes, and which suc-
ceeded in the elimination of the over 2,500-year presence 
of Armenians in their historic homeland; 
Whereas 
there 
are 
numerous 
contemporaneous 
documentations of the Ottoman Government’s campaign 
against the Armenians, including extensive accounts in 
Western newspapers and government documents in the 
national archives of Austria, France, Germany, Great 
Britain, Russia, the United States, and the Vatican; 
Whereas this documentation unequivocally describes the sys-
tematic murder of the Armenian people and the destruc-
tion of Armenian life within the Ottoman Empire; 
Whereas Henry Morgenthau Sr., the United States Ambas-
sador to the Ottoman Empire, sent a cable to the United 
States State Department in 1915: ‘‘Deportation of and
•HCON 195 IH 
excesses against peaceful Armenians is increasing and 
from harrowing reports of eye witnesses [sic] it appears 
that a campaign of race extermination is in progress 
under a pretext of reprisal against rebellion.’’; 
Whereas Abram Elkus, who succeeded Morgenthau as United 
States Ambassador in 1916, sent a cable to Washington 
that the Ottoman Turks were continuing an ‘‘. . . un-
checked policy of extermination through starvation, ex-
haustion, and brutality of treatment’’; 
Whereas in 1920, the Communists came to power in Armenia 
following an invasion by the Red Army; 
Whereas Armenia was part of the Soviet Union for the next 
70 years; 
Whereas the Republic of Armenia is working toward democ-
racy, the rule of law, and a viable free market economy 
since obtaining its freedom from Soviet rule in 1991; 
Whereas the Republic of Armenia is a member of the Council 
of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation 
in Europe, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s 
Partnership for Peace; 
Whereas the Republic of Armenia is a friend and ally of the 
United States; 
Whereas the modern Republic of Turkey was founded in 
1923; 
Whereas the Republic of Turkey abolished Ottoman institu-
tions, including the sultanate and caliphate, and under-
went a period of modernization and westernization; 
Whereas the Republic of Turkey has been a long-standing 
member of numerous international organizations, includ-
ing the Council of Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Or-
•HCON 195 IH 
ganization, and the Organization for Security and Co-
operation in Europe; 
Whereas the Republic of Turkey is a friend and ally of the 
United States; 
Whereas the Republic of Turkey, because of its position at 
the crossroads of Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, 
and the Middle East, is well positioned to play a leading 
role in shaping developments in Europe and beyond; 
Whereas the United States has an interest in the stability 
and economic development of Turkey and the Caucasus 
region; 
Whereas the Republic of Turkey desires to join the European 
Union; 
Whereas the European Union and the Republic of Turkey 
will begin accession talks in October 2005; 
Whereas former Secretary of State Colin Powell welcomed the 
announcement of accession talks in December 2004 by 
saying that the United States is ‘‘confident that the ac-
cession process, and Turkey’s eventual membership in the 
European Union, will bring great benefits to Turkey and 
to the European Union . . . [t]he Turkish people have 
much to look forward to . . . [a] Turkey that is firmly 
anchored in Europe and sharing European values will be 
a positive force for prosperity and democracy . . . [t]his 
is good for Turkey, for the broader European region, and 
for the United States, and that is why successive United 
States administrations have consistently supported Tur-
key’s European aspirations’’; 
Whereas the European Union in 1993 established criteria for 
membership for Central and Eastern European countries 
that require that the candidate country must have
•HCON 195 IH 
achieved stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, 
the rule of law, human rights, and respect for and protec-
tion of minorities, the existence of a functioning market 
economy as well as the capacity to cope with competitive 
pressure and market forces within the Union, and the 
ability to take on the obligations of membership, includ-
ing adherence to the aims of political, economic, and 
monetary union; 
Whereas Republic of Turkey is making progress in many of 
these areas, as reflected in the decision to open accession 
negotiations; 
Whereas in order to meet the accession criteria regarding the 
respect for and treatment of minorities, the Republic of 
Turkey must acknowledge the culpability of its prede-
cessor state, the Ottoman Empire, for the Armenian 
Genocide; 
Whereas the Republic of Turkey has consistently refused to 
acknowledge the culpability of its predecessor state, the 
Ottoman Empire, for the Armenian Genocide; 
Whereas the European Parliament passed a resolution in 
June 1987 stating that the killing of ‘‘Armenians living 
in the territory of the Ottoman Empire constitute geno-
cide within the meaning of the Convention on the Preven-
tion and the Punishment of the Crime of Genocide adopt-
ed by the United Nations General Assembly on 9 Decem-
ber 1948’’; 
Whereas in the 1987 Resolution the European Parliament 
stated that ‘‘the refusal by the present Turkish Govern-
ment to acknowledge the genocide against the Armenian 
people committed by [the Ottoman] government, [is] an