Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Robert Menendez asked for a “unanimous consent” vote to immediately adopt the Armenian Genocide Resolution, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) reported.
Menendez took to the floor an hour after Turkey’s President Erdogan appearance in a joint White House press conference with President Trump, during which Erdogan attacked US House passage of Armenian Genocide Resolution, noting that this vote “hurt deeply the Turkish nation.”
Erdogan asserted that Turkey has “nothing to hide” and that the matter should be left to historians. “I believe the Senate will take the United States out of this vicious cycle,” said Erdogan.
Sen. Menendez sent a clear and resounding message to President Erdogan that while he is being welcomed to the U.S. by President Trump, he does not get to continue his gag-rule on U.S. foreign policy.
As reported earlier, Republican Party Senator Lindsey Graham blocked a resolution on Wednesday that would have formally recognized the Ottoman Empire’s genocide against the Armenian people who had cited his recent meeting with Erdogan as the reason to not pass the Senate resolution saying that in view of the current crisis in Syria.
