US lawmakers recognize 'Armenian genocide' to counteract Trump in Syria

ISTANBUL/WASHINGTON - Turkey's Foreign Ministry said it summoned US Ambassador David Satterfield on Wednesday over two resolutions passed by the US House of Representatives.

The US House adopted a resolution on Tuesday officially recognizing the "Armenian genocide", an unprecedented move that angered Turkey on its national day amid already heightened tensions with Washington.

The bill affirms "the United States record on the Armenian Genocide", a first for the US Congress, where similar measures with such direct language have been introduced for decades but never passed. The vote was 403 to 16, with only 15 Republicans and one Democrat voting against the resolution.

Ankara reacted swiftly, rejecting the House's recognition as a "meaningless political step" and warning it risks harming ties "at an extremely fragile time" for international and regional security.

Armenians say the mass killings of nearly 1.5 million of their people by Turks beginning in 1915 amounted to genocide, a claim recognized by some 30 countries.

House lawmakers delivered a two-punch rebuke to Turkey on its national day, with the genocide measure passing alongside a bill that imposes sanctions over Ankara's assault on Kurdish-controlled territory in northeastern Syria that was made possible by the withdrawal of US troops earlier this month.

The sanctions bill, also passed by a vote of 403 to 16, is the latest House effort to display disapproval of US President Donald Trump's sudden decision to withdraw about 1,000 remaining US troops from northern Syria.

If also approved by the Senate, the sanctions bill would forbid US arms sale to Ankara for use in Syria, identify senior Turkish officials for their role in the military offensive against the Kurds and sanction foreigners providing arms to Turkish forces in Syria.

The bill also seeks to force the Trump administration to impose the previously mandated sanctions for Turkey's purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system.

However, the bill may be stalled in the Senate, as leading Republicans in the Senate have indicated that they will not bring up such a measure for a vote at least for now.

Last week, Trump ordered US sanctions on Turkey over its offensive in northern Syria to be lifted after Turkey informed Washington of a "permanent" cease-fire in Syria. But members of Congress remains deeply concerned about the withdrawal of US troops from the region and Turkey's military offensive.

In regards to the genocide resolution, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement she was honored to join her colleagues "in solemn remembrance of one of the great atrocities of the 20th century: The systematic murder of more than 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children by the Ottoman Empire".

Turkey strongly denies the accusation of genocide and says that both Armenians and Turks died as a result of the World War I. It puts the death toll in the hundreds of thousands.

Separately, in a statement, Turkey's Foreign Ministry "strongly condemned" the House decision to approve the sanctions, saying it did "not bode well with the spirit of relations" as NATO allies and also went against the deal reached with the US over Syria.

The ministry said both bills were fashioned for "domestic consumption" in the US and would undermine relations. It said lawmakers critical of Turkey's Syria offensive would be wrong to take "vengeance" through the Armenian genocide bill.

But Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan hailed the House move, tweeting that it was a "bold step toward serving truth and historical #justice that also offers comfort to millions of descendants of the Armenian Genocide survivors".

Agencies - Xinhua