[House Report 111-622]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
111th Congress Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2d Session 111-622
======================================================================
AFFIRMATION OF THE UNITED STATES RECORD ON THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
RESOLUTION
_______
September 22, 2010.--Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be
printed
_______
Mr. Berman, from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, submitted the
following
R E P O R T
together with
ADDITIONAL VIEWS
[To accompany H. Res. 252]
The Committee on Foreign Affairs, to whom was referred the
resolution (H. Res. 252) calling upon the President to ensure
that the foreign policy of the United States reflects
appropriate 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, having considered the same,
report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that
the resolution be agreed to.
CONTENTS
Page
Summary.......................................................... 2
Background and Purpose for the Legislation....................... 2
Hearings......................................................... 2
Committee Consideration.......................................... 2
Votes of the Committee........................................... 2
Committee Oversight Findings..................................... 3
New Budget Authority and Tax Expenditures........................ 3
Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................ 3
Performance Goals and Objectives................................. 3
Constitutional Authority Statement............................... 3
New Advisory Committees.......................................... 3
Congressional Accountability Act................................. 3
Earmark Identification........................................... 4
Section-by-Section Analysis and Discussion....................... 4
Additional Views................................................. 8
SUMMARY
H. Res. 252, the ``Affirmation of the United States Record
on the Armenian Genocide Resolution,'' calls upon the President
to ensure that U.S. foreign policy reflects appropriate
understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to
human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented in the
U.S. record relating to the Armenian Genocide and the
consequences of the failure to realize a just resolution. It
also calls upon the President in the President's annual message
commemorating the Armenian Genocide, to accurately characterize
the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1.5 million
Armenians as genocide, and to recall the proud history of U.S.
intervention in opposition to the Armenian Genocide.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE FOR THE LEGISLATION
H. Res. 252, the ``Affirmation of the United States Record
on the Armenian Genocide Resolution,'' was introduced on March
17, 2009, by Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-CA) and 76 original
cosponsors.
The deportations of ethnic Armenians from the eastern
Ottoman provinces that began in 1915 resulted in 1.5 million
deaths. The United States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire at
the time, the Honorable Henry Morgenthau, later wrote that:
``When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these
deportations, they were merely giving the death warrant to a
whole race.''
Accordingly, H. Res. 252 calls upon the President to ensure
that the foreign policy of the United States reflects
appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues
related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide
documented in the United States record relating to the Armenian
Genocide. It relates facts and statements that the deaths of
1.5 million ethnic Armenians over a period of several years
starting in 1915 in regions controlled by the former Ottoman
Empire were the result of a purposeful campaign of genocide
against the Armenian nation. It declares that the United States
House of Representatives calls on the President to ensure that
the foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate
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 the
consequences of the failure to realize a just resolution. It
also calls upon the President, in his annual message
commemorating the Armenian Genocide, to accurately characterize
the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1.5 million
Armenians as genocide and to recall the proud history of United
States intervention in opposition to the Armenian Genocide.
HEARINGS
The committee did not hold hearings on this legislation.
COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION
On March 4, 2010, the committee held a markup of H. Res.
252 and passed a motion to order the legislation reported
favorably by a vote of 23 ayes to 22 nays, a quorum being
present.
VOTES OF THE COMMITTEE
On the vote to order the legislation favorably reported:
Voting yes: Berman, Ackerman, Faleomavaega, Payne, Sherman,
Engel, Watson, Sires, Green, Woolsey, Lee, Berkley,
Crowley, Costa, Ellison, Giffords, Klein, Smith,
Gallegly, Rohrabacher, Manzullo, Royce and Bilirakis.
Voting no: Delahunt, Meeks, Carnahan, Connolly, McMahon,
Tanner, Ross, Miller, Scott, Ros-Lehtinen, Burton,
Paul, Flake, Pence, Wilson, Boozman, Barrett, Mack,
Fortenberry, McCaul, Poe and Inglis.
COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS
In compliance with clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules
of the House of Representatives, the committee reports that the
findings and recommendations of the committee, based on
oversight activities under clause 2(b)(1) of rule X of the
Rules of the House of Representatives, are incorporated in the
descriptive portions of this report.
NEW BUDGET AUTHORITY AND TAX EXPENDITURES
In compliance with clause 3(c)(2) of House Rule XIII, the
committee adopts as its own the estimate of new budget
authority, entitlement authority, or tax expenditures or
revenues contained in the cost estimate prepared by the
Director of the Congressional Budget Office, pursuant to
section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE
In compliance with clause 3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules
of the House of Representatives, no estimate or comparison
prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office is
necessary for H. Res. 252.
PERFORMANCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The Act is intended to ensure that U.S. foreign policy
reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning
issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide
documented in the U.S. record relating to the Armenian Genocide
and the consequences of the failure to realize a just
resolution; and in the President's annual message commemorating
the Armenian Genocide, to characterize the systematic and
deliberate annihilation of 1.5 million Armenians as genocide,
and to recall the proud history of U.S. intervention in
opposition to the Armenian Genocide.
CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY STATEMENT
Pursuant to clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of the
House of Representatives, the committee finds the authority for
this legislation in article I, section 8 of the Constitution.
NEW ADVISORY COMMITTEES
H. Res. 252 does not establish or authorize any new
advisory committees.
CONGRESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY ACT
H. Res. 252 does not apply to the Legislative Branch.
earmark identification
H. Res. 252 does not contain any congressional earmarks,
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined in
clause 9(d), 9(e), or 9(f) of rule XXI.
section-by-section analysis and discussion
Section 1. Short title
The resolution may be cited as the ``Affirmation of the
United States Record on the Armenian Genocide Resolution.''
Section 2. Findings
The resolution states that the Armenian Genocide was
conceived and carried out by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to
1923, resulting in the deportation of nearly 2 million
Armenians, of whom 1.5 million men, women and children were
killed, 500,000 survivors were expelled from their homes, and
which succeeded in the elimination of the over 2,500-year
presence of Armenians in their historic homeland.
The resolution states that on May 24, 1915, the Allied
Powers, England, France, and Russia, jointly issued a statement
explicitly charging for the first time ever another government
of committing a ``crime against humanity.''
The resolution states that this joint statement stated
``the Allied Governments announce publicly to the Sublime Porte
that they will hold personally responsible for these crimes all
members of the Ottoman Government, as well as those of their
agents who are implicated in such massacres.''
The resolution states that the post-World War I Turkish
Government indicted the top leaders involved in the
``organization and execution'' of the Armenian Genocide and in
the ``massacre and destruction of the Armenians.''
The resolution states that in a series of courts-martial,
officials of the Young Turk Regime were tried and convicted, as
charged, for organizing and executing massacres against the
Armenian people.
The resolution states that the chief organizers of the
Armenian Genocide, Minister of War Enver, Minister of the
Interior Talaat, and Minister of the Navy Jemal were all
condemned to death for their crimes; however, the verdicts of
the courts were not enforced.
The resolution states that the Armenian Genocide and these
domestic judicial failures are documented with overwhelming
evidence in the national archives of Austria, France, Germany,
Great Britain, Russia, the United States, the Vatican and many
other countries, and this vast body of evidence attests to the
same facts, the same events, and the same consequences.
The resolution states that the United States National
Archives and Record Administration holds extensive and thorough
documentation on the Armenian Genocide, especially in its
holdings under Record Group 59 of the United States Department
of State, files 867.00 and 867.40, which are open and widely
available to the public and interested institutions.
The resolution states that the Honorable Henry Morgenthau,
United States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1913 to
1916, organized and led protests by officials of many
countries, among them the allies of the Ottoman Empire, against
the Armenian Genocide.
The resolution states that Ambassador Morgenthau explicitly
described to the United States Department of State the policy
of the Government of the Ottoman Empire as ``a campaign of race
extermination,'' and was instructed on July 16, 1915, by United
States Secretary of State Robert Lansing that the ``Department
approves your procedure . . . to stop Armenian persecution.''
The resolution refers to a Senate Concurrent Resolution 12
of February 9, 1916, resolved that ``the President of the
United States be respectfully asked to designate a day on which
the citizens of this country may give expression to their
sympathy by contributing funds now being raised for the relief
of the Armenians,'' who at the time were enduring ``starvation,
disease, and untold suffering.''
The resolution states that President Woodrow Wilson
concurred and also encouraged the formation of the organization
known as Near East Relief, chartered by an Act of Congress,
which contributed some $116 million from 1915 to 1930 to aid
Armenian Genocide survivors, including 132,000 orphans who
became foster children of the American people.
The resolution states that Senate Resolution 359, dated May
11, 1920, stated in part, ``the testimony adduced at the
hearings conducted by the subcommittee of the Senate Committee
on Foreign Relations have clearly established the truth of the
reported massacres and other atrocities from which the Armenian
people have suffered.''
The resolution states that the resolution followed the
April 13, 1920, report to the Senate of the American Military
Mission to Armenia led by General James Harbord, that stated
``[m]utilation, violation, torture, and death have left their
haunting memories in a hundred beautiful Armenian valleys, and
the traveler in that region is seldom free from the evidence of
this most colossal crime of all the ages.''
The resolution states that as displayed in the United
States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Adolf Hitler, on ordering his
military commanders to attack Poland without provocation in
1939, dismissed objections by saying ``[w]ho, after all, speaks
today of the annihilation of the Armenians?'' and thus set the
stage for the Holocaust.
The resolution states that Raphael Lemkin, who coined the
term ``genocide'' in 1944, and who was the earliest proponent
of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of Genocide, invoked the Armenian case as a
definitive example of genocide in the 20th century.
The resolution states that the first resolution on genocide
adopted by the United Nations at Lemkin's urging, the December
11, 1946, United Nations General Assembly Resolution 96(1) and
the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment
of Genocide itself recognized the Armenian Genocide as the type
of crime the United Nations intended to prevent and punish by
codifying existing standards.
The resolution that in 1948, the United Nations War Crimes
Commission invoked the Armenian Genocide ``precisely . . . one
of the types of acts which the modern term `crimes against
humanity' is intended to cover'' as a precedent for the
Nuremberg tribunals.
The resolution that the Commission stated that ``[t]he
provisions of Article 230 of the Peace Treaty of Sevres were
obviously intended to cover, in conformity with the Allied note
of 1915 . . ., offenses which had been committed on Turkish
territory against persons of Turkish citizenship, though of
Armenian or Greek race. This article constitutes therefore a
precedent for Article 6c and 5c of the Nuremberg and Tokyo
Charters, and offers an example of one of the categories of
`crimes against humanity' as understood by these enactments.''
The resolution refers to a House Joint Resolution 148,
adopted on April 8, 1975, resolved: ``[t]hat April 24, 1975, is
hereby designated as `National Day of Remembrance of Man's
Inhumanity to Man,' and the President of the United States is
authorized and requested to issue a proclamation calling upon
the people of the United States to observe such day as a day of
remembrance for all the victims of genocide, especially those
of Armenian ancestry . . .'';
The resolution states that President Ronald Reagan in
proclamation number 4838, dated April 22, 1981, stated in part
``like the genocide of the Armenians before it, and the
genocide of the Cambodians, which followed it--and like too
many other persecutions of too many other people--the lessons
of the Holocaust must never be forgotten.''
The resolution refers to a House Joint Resolution 247,
adopted on September 10, 1984, resolved: ``[t]hat April 24,
1985, is hereby designated as `National Day of Remembrance of
Man's Inhumanity to Man,' and the President of the United
States is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation
calling upon the people of the United States to observe such
day as a day of remembrance for all the victims of genocide,
especially the one and one-half million people of Armenian
ancestry.''
The resolution states that in August 1985, after extensive
study and deliberation, the United Nations Sub-Commission on
Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities voted
14 to 1 to accept a report entitled ``Study of the Question of
the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,'' which
stated ``[t]he Nazi aberration has unfortunately not been the
only case of genocide in the 20th century. Among other examples
which can be cited as qualifying are . . . the Ottoman massacre
of Armenians in 1915-1916.''
The resolution states that this report also explained that
``[a]t least 1,000,000, and possibly well over half of the
Armenian population, are reliably estimated to have been killed
or death marched by independent authorities and eye-witnesses.
This is corroborated by reports in United States, German and
British archives and of contemporary diplomats in the Ottoman
Empire, including those of its ally Germany.''
The resolution states that the United States Holocaust
Memorial Council, an independent Federal agency, unanimously
resolved on April 30, 1981, that the United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum would include the Armenian Genocide in the
Museum and has since done so.
The resolution states that reviewing an aberrant 1982
expression (later retracted) by the United States Department of
State asserting that the facts of the Armenian Genocide may be
ambiguous, the United States Court of Appeals for the District
of Columbia in 1993, after a review of documents pertaining to
the policy record of the United States, noted that the
assertion on ambiguity in the United States record about the
Armenian Genocide ``contradicted longstanding United States
policy and was eventually retracted.''
The resolution states that on June 5, 1996, the House of
Representatives adopted an amendment to House Bill 3540 (the
Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs
Appropriations Act, 1997) to reduce aid to Turkey by $3 million
(an estimate of its payment of lobbying fees in the United
States) until the Turkish Government acknowledged the Armenian
Genocide and took steps to honor the memory of its victims.
The resolution states that President William Jefferson
Clinton, on April 24, 1998, stated: ``This year, as in the
past, we join with Armenian-Americans throughout the nation in
commemorating one of the saddest chapters in the history of
this century, the deportations and massacres of a million and a
half Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in the years 1915-1923.''
The resolution states that President George W. Bush, on
April 24, 2004, stated: ``On this day, we pause in remembrance
of one of the most horrible tragedies of the 20th century, the
annihilation of as many as 1,500,000 Armenians through forced
exile and murder at the end of the Ottoman Empire.''
The resolution states that 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 reason why
similar genocides have recurred and may recur in the future,
and that a just resolution will help prevent future genocides.
Section 3. Declaration of policy
The resolution calls upon the President to ensure that the
foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate
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 the
consequences of the failure to realize a just resolution.
In addition, the resolution calls upon the President in the
President's annual message commemorating the Armenian Genocide
issued on or about April 24, to accurately characterize the
systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1.5 million Armenians
as genocide and to recall the proud history of United States
intervention in opposition to the Armenian Genocide.
ADDITIONAL VIEWS
This committee has, over the past few years, debated the
issues raised by proposed measures similar to House Resolution
252 (H. Res. 252). These resolutions, and H. Res. 252 in
particular, represent the desire of the ethnic Armenian
victims, as well as their survivors and descendants, to have
the inter-ethnic violence that wracked the disintegrating
Ottoman Turkish Empire early in the last century recognized as
a genocide.
Concurrently, there have been repeated calls in recent
years for the establishment of a joint historical commission to
review all of the events involved in the wave of atrocities
that occurred in the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century.
Members of the committee, as articulated during
consideration of H. Res. 252, have been encouraged by the
recent willingness of the leadership of the Governments of
Armenia and Turkey to agree to such a commission, as laid out
in the two protocols they agreed to in October 2009. These two
protocols called for: The opening of the border; a commitment
to refrain from all forms of terrorism, extremism and violence;
and the establishment of diplomatic relations. They also called
for the establishment of a historical commission to conduct an
impartial, scientific examination of records and archives
relating to the devastating events of 1915. This is an effort
worthy of support.
Therefore, any archives that may contain relevant documents
regarding the atrocities, warfare and inter-ethnic violence in
the Ottoman Empire in that period, which have not been fully
opened, should be made immediately available to both countries,
to a joint historical commission described in the two
protocols, and to interested parties researching the events of
that time. Philip H. Gordon, Assistant Secretary of State for
European and Eurasian Affairs, stated on March 16, 2010, ``As
President Obama has said, our interest is in a full, frank and
just acknowledgement of the facts related to the events of
1915. But the best way to do that, we believe, is for the
Armenian and Turkish people themselves to address this history
as part of their efforts to build a future of shared peace and
prosperity.'' The committee should take steps to encourage such
transparency and cooperation.
Inevitably, in all committee and congressional debates on
measures such as House Resolution 252, issues related to the
broader national interests of the United States must be
considered. Such issues are a necessary review of the potential
implications of congressional action on a particular measure
for the security, strategic, and foreign policy needs and
priorities of the United States. Such consideration is not an
attempt to judge the arguments for or against the case that the
atrocities and events of the early 20th century in Ottoman
Turkey amounted to genocide but, rather, is a necessary
exercise to fully understand the implications of the
committee's and Congress' actions with respect to H. Res. 252
on our Nation's continuing effort to combat global extremism,
as well as on the success of our military operations and safety
of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, given Turkey's role in
our Nation's ability to carry out its mission in these two
fronts. As noted by several former Secretaries of State in a
letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2007 regarding a
measure similar to H. Res. 252, passage of such a resolution
could undermine U.S. national security interests in the region,
including the safety of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, by
jeopardizing the U.S.-Turkey strategic relationship.
Specifically, these former Secretaries of State wrote, ``Turkey
is an indispensable partner to our efforts in Iraq and
Afghanistan, helping U.S. military with access to Turkish
airspace, military bases, and the border crossing with Iraq . .
. Turkey is a linchpin in the transshipment of vital cargo and
fuel resources to U.S. troops, coalition partners and Iraqi
civilians. Turkish troops serve shoulder-to-shoulder with
distinction with U.S. and other NATO allies in the Balkans.''
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton and House
Readiness Subcommittee Chairman Congressman Solomon Ortiz also
voiced concern, at that time, in a separate letter to Speaker
Pelosi, and cautioned that ``approving [such a measure] in the
House of Representatives would be counterproductive to U.S.
national interests in the Middle East and could hinder
America's ability to strategically redeploy U.S. military
forces from Iraq.'' Further information on these and related
issues was also provided at the time by the Executive Branch,
in classified form, to assist the committee members in their
consideration of the measure then before the committee.
When House Resolution 252 was scheduled for markup by the
committee, the Minority on the committee and the Minority
Leadership of the House requested current assessments from the
Executive Branch regarding the bilateral relationship between
the U.S. and both Turkey and Armenia and the potential
implications for U.S. national security and strategic interests
of committee adoption of the measure. Despite repeated
inquiries, such updated materials were not provided in any
form. However, news reports published in the days surrounding
committee consideration of the resolution, highlighted the
current Administration's opposition to the committee's action
on H. Res. 252 on March 4, 2010:
``In a last-ditch attempt to avoid a vote, Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton telephoned Howard Berman, the
House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman . . . to
highlight the potential fallout.'' (The Times of
London, March 4, 2010)
``. . . Clinton said her government would `work very
hard to make sure it does not go to the House floor.'
US President Barack Obama's administration had been
silent about the resolution until shortly before the
vote at the House of Representatives, when it said it
opposed its passage.'' (The Jerusalem Post, March 5,
2010)
``The U.S. Secretary of Defense said on Saturday. . .
. `We certainly hope that the Congress and the House of
Representatives take this measure no further.'''
(Turkish English Language Daily-Todays Zaman, March 14,
2010)
Further, as the United States is currently engaged in
complex efforts to compel the Iranian regime to abandon its
nuclear program and all other activities that threaten the
United States, our interests, and our allies, the committee and
the Congress should consider Turkey and Armenia's actions vis-
a-vis Iran and the potential impact that adoption of H. Res.
252 could have on the ability of the U.S. to secure cooperation
from both countries in isolating the Iranian regime. In recent
months, Turkey has voted against stronger sanctions against
Iran in the United Nations Security Council, has emphatically
stated that energy agreements with Iran shall continue, and has
signed agreements for a $1 billion gas pipeline deal and for
the liberalization of visas for travel between the two
countries. For its part, Armenia, as the State Department noted
in its 2008 Country Reports on Terrorism, has been
``reluctant'' to engage in international efforts to criticize
or pressure Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions. Armenia and
Iran have instead continued to strengthen their cooperative
relations on finance, transportation and energy-related
projects. As this report is being written, Iranian Foreign
Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Armenian Foreign Minister
Eduard Nalbandian have in fact announced the two countries'
intention to further increase bilateral ties.
Ultimately, congressional action on issues addressed in H.
Res. 252 affecting Armenia and Turkey should focus on
encouraging the governments of the two countries to
reinvigorate their earlier, tentative agreement, embodied in
the protocols of 2009, to establish a joint historical
commission to conduct an impartial inquiry, toward an
improvement of relations between the governments and the people
of Turkey and Armenia.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
Dan Burton.
Jeff Flake.
Joe Wilson.
Ted Poe.
Bob Inglis.