•HRES 596 RH
conscientiously recognize the genocides of the past—
the enormous tragedies that have darkened this cen-
tury and that haunt us still. We must not only com-
memorate the courage of the victims and of their sur-
vivors, but we must also remind ourselves that civili-
zation cannot be taken for granted. . . . We must all
be vigilant against this most heinous crime against
humanity’’.
(28) President Bush, in 1988, stated further
‘‘[t]he United States must acknowledge the attempted
genocide of the Armenian people in the last years of
the Ottoman Empire, based on the testimony of sur-
vivors, scholars, and indeed our own representatives
at the time, if we are to insure that such horrors are
not repeated’’.
(29) President Clinton, on August 13, 1992, stat-
ed ‘‘[t]he Genocide of 1915, years of communist dicta-
torship, and the devastating earthquake of 1988 have
caused great suffering in Armenia during this cen-
tury’’.
(30) Reviewing an aberrant 1982 expression
(later retracted) by the United States Department of
State asserting that the facts of the Armenian Geno-
cide may be ambiguous, the United States Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1993, after a
•HRES 596 RH
review of documents pertaining to the policy record of
the United States, noted that the assertion on ambi-
guity in the United States record about the Armenian
Genocide ‘‘contradicted longstanding United States
policy and was eventually retracted’’.
(31) Despite the international recognition and
affirmation of the Armenian Genocide, the failure of
the domestic and international authorities to punish
those responsible for the Armenian Genocide is a rea-
son why similar genocides have recurred and may
recur in the future, and that a proper judicial and
firm response, holding the guilty accountable and re-
quiring the prompt enforcement of verdicts would
have spared humanity needless suffering.
(32) In a commendable letter on April 9, 1999,
Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat, then Under Secretary
of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Af-
fairs, pledged that the administration would raise
with the Republic of Turkey the issue of the recovery
of Armenian assets from the genocide period held by
the Imperial Ottoman Bank.
(33) It is important that the President ensure
that the foreign policy of the United States reflects
appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning
issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and
•HRES 596 RH
genocide documented in the United States record re-
lating to the Armenian Genocide and the consequences
of the failure to enforce the judgments of the Turkish
courts against the responsible officials.
SEC. 3. DECLARATION OF POLICY.
The House of Representatives—
(1) calls upon the President to ensure that the
foreign policy of the United States reflects appro-
priate understanding and sensitivity concerning
issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and
genocide documented in the United States record re-
lating to the Armenian Genocide and the consequences
of the failure to enforce the judgments of the Turkish
courts against the responsible officials;
(2) calls upon the President in the President’s
annual message commemorating the Armenian Geno-
cide issued on or about April 24 to characterize the
systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000
Armenians as genocide and to recall the proud his-
tory of United States intervention in opposition to
the Armenian Genocide; and
(3) calls upon the President in the President’s
annual message commemorating the Armenian Geno-
cide to state that the modern day Republic of Turkey
•HRES 596 RH
did not conduct the Armenian Genocide, which was
perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire.
House Calendar No. 296
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. RES. 596
[Report No. 106–933]
RESOLUTION
Calling upon the President to ensure that the for-
eign policy of the United States reflects appro-
priate understanding and sensitivity concerning
issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing,
and genocide documented in the United States
record relating to the Armenian Genocide, and
for other purposes.
OCTOBER 4, 2000
Reported with an amendment, referred to the House
Calendar, and ordered to be printed