•HRES 227 IH 
Whereas at the start of this process, President Barack 
Obama had, on April 6, 2009, voiced the United States 
Government’s expectation that Armenia-Turkey dialogue 
would ‘‘bear fruit very quickly’’, but that, since then, the 
Obama Administration has commended Armenia’s par-
ticipation in this dialogue while holding Turkey largely 
responsible for the lack of results from this process, with 
the Secretary of State noting, on June 4, 2012, that, on 
this matter, ‘‘the ball remains in Turkey’s court.’’; 
Whereas on April 24, 2013, President Barack Obama stated, 
‘‘A full, frank, and just acknowledgment of the facts is 
in all of our interests. Nations grow stronger by acknowl-
edging and reckoning with painful elements of the past, 
thereby building a foundation for a more just and toler-
ant future.’’; 
Whereas the Republic of Turkey, rather than acknowledging 
and reckoning with painful elements of the past, has es-
calated its international campaign of Armenian Genocide 
denial, maintained its blockade of Armenia, and increased 
its pressure on the small but growing Turkish civil soci-
ety movement acknowledging the Armenian Genocide and 
seeking justice for this systematic campaign of destruc-
tion of millions of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, 
Pontians, Syriacs, and other Christians upon their bib-
lical-era homelands; 
Whereas the United States is on record as having officially 
recognized the Armenian Genocide, in the United States 
Government’s May 28, 1951, written statement to the 
International Court of Justice regarding the Convention 
on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Geno-
cide, through President Ronald Reagan’s April 22, 1981, 
Proclamation No. 4838, and by Congressional legislation, 
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•HRES 227 IH 
including House Joint Resolution 148 adopted on April 
8, 1975, and House Joint Resolution 247 adopted on 
September 10, 1984; 
Whereas even prior to the Convention on the Prevention and 
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the United States 
has a record of having sought to justly and constructively 
address the consequences of the Ottoman Empire’s inten-
tional destruction of the Armenian people, including 
through Senate Concurrent Resolution 12 adopted on 
February 9, 1916, Senate Resolution 359 adopted on 
May 11, 1920, and President Woodrow Wilson’s Decision 
of the President of the United States of America Re-
specting the Frontier between Turkey and Armenia, Ac-
cess for Armenia to the Sea, and the Demilitarization of 
Turkish Territory Adjacent to the Armenian Frontier, 
dated November 22, 1920; 
Whereas President Barack Obama entered office having stat-
ed his ‘‘firmly held conviction that the Armenian Geno-
cide is not an allegation, a personal opinion, or a point 
of view, but rather a widely documented fact supported 
by an overwhelming body of historical evidence’’, affirmed 
his record of ‘‘calling for Turkey’s acknowledgment of the 
Armenian Genocide’’, and pledged that ‘‘as President I 
will recognize the Armenian Genocide’’; and 
Whereas the United States national interests in the establish-
ment of equitable, constructive, stable, and durable rela-
tions between Armenians and Turks cannot be meaning-
fully advanced by circumventing or otherwise seeking to 
avoid materially addressing the central political, legal, se-
curity, and moral issue between these two nations, Tur-
key’s denial of truth and justice for the Armenian Geno-
cide: Now, therefore, be it 
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•HRES 227 IH 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives calls on 
the President to work toward equitable, constructive, sta-
ble, and durable Armenian-Turkish relations based upon 
the Republic of Turkey’s full acknowledgment of the facts 
and ongoing consequences of the Armenian Genocide, and 
a fair, just, and comprehensive international resolution of 
this crime against humanity. 
Æ 
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