Expert predicts stronger congressional support for new Genocide resolutionJune 15, 2011 - 17:11 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian Genocide resolution, newly submitted to U.S. House of Representatives will have stronger support among Congressmen, according to director of the Oriental Studies Institute at Armenian National Academy of Sciences, professor Ruben Safrastyan.As the expert told a news conference in Yerevan, introduction of a new resolution on rightful return of confiscated churches to Armenians, increases the probability of their adoption. The struggle will start once the resolutions are included on U.S. House of Representatives agenda, the expert said, noting that Armenian Genocide recognition issue will always be on U.S.’ political agenda. A bipartisan group of U.S. legislators are set to introduce two resolutions in support of a truthful and just resolution of the Armenian Genocide, including a new measure specifically pressing Turkey to fully respect the rights of Christians to practice their faith in freedom, including through the rightful return of confiscated churches to Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Pontians, Arameans (Syriacs) and other Christians communities. The Return of Churches resolution, spearheaded by senior House Foreign Affairs Committee member Ed Royce (R-CA) and the panel's Ranking Democrat Howard Berman (D-CA), calls upon the government of Turkey to honor its international obligations end all forms of religious persecution and to protect the rights and religious freedoms of Christians. The measure specifically calls upon Turkey to return confiscated Christian church properties. The Armenian Genocide Resolution, introduced by Congressmen Robert Dold (R-IL) and Adam Schiff (D-CA), calls upon the President to recognize the Armenian Genocide and encourages the U.S. government to apply the lessons of this tragedy to prevent future crimes against humanity. This measure, identical to H.Res.252 during the previous session of Congress, has been adopted by the Foreign Affairs Committee four times over the past eleven years, but has yet to reach the floor for an up-or-down vote of the full U.S. House of Representatives. Top stories Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan took to social media to thank his Lithuanian counterpart for the contribution. President of the Armenian parliament Alen Simonyan met with the Speaker of the Azerbaijani Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova. Achieving stable peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan remains a priority of the OSCE, said Ian Borg. The Cabinet of Ministers decided on Thursday, November 9 to allocated AMD 120 million to arrange the gathering. Partner news | Concept to complete Yerevan Cascade discussed at city hall A conceptual proposal to complete the Cascade complex in downtown Yerevan has been presented by Jean-Michel Wilmotte. Pashinyan visits flood-hit region Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Saturday, June 8 visited the disaster area in the Lori province. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State to travel to Armenia Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs James C. O’Brien will travel to Yerevan on June 10-12. Power of One Dram to benefit Road of Life, Strong Mind IDBank and Idram summarize the results of the May program of “The Power of One Dram”. |