October 30, 2019 - 12:30 AMT
Turkey summons U.S. envoy over Armenian Genocide resolution

The U.S. Ambassador to Ankara David Satterfield has been summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry over a resolution passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on the Armenian Genocide, Anadoly Agency reports.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry had earlier rejected the resolution in a statement.

The House of Representatives on Tuesday, October 29 voted in favor of a resolution affirming the United States record on the Armenian Genocide.

The bill was approved with a vote of 405 yeas against 11 nays, three abstentions.

Introduced by Rep. Adam Schiff, the resolution states that it is U.S. policy to (1) commemorate the Armenian Genocide, the killing of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923; (2) reject efforts to associate the U.S. government with efforts to deny the existence of the Armenian Genocide or any genocide; and (3) encourage education and public understanding about the Armenian Genocide.

Mississippi remains as the last U.S. state to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide, the other 49 having already done so.

April 24, 1915 is the day when a group of Armenian intellectuals was rounded up and assassinated in Constantinople by the Ottoman government. On April 24, Armenians worldwide commemorated the 104th anniversary of the Genocide which continued until 1923. Some three dozen countries, hundreds of local government bodies and international organizations have so far recognized the killings of 1.5 million Armenians as Genocide. Turkey denies to this day.