WASHINGTON – On November 13, the day Turkish President Recep Erdogan was visiting Washington, D.C. Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) took the Senate floor and requested unanimous consent to bring the Armenian Genocide resolution for a vote. Senate Resolution 150 which reaffirms the fact of the Armenian Genocide, currently is at the Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee, which has not vote yet. However, Menendez suggested that the Committee “be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 150 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.”
“This passed overwhelmingly, with strong Republican support in the House of Representatives,” Robert Menendez stated, referring to the adoption of the Armenian Genocide resolution (House Resolution 296) by the U.S. House on October 29.
Following Menendez’s speech Senator Graham (R-S.C.) blocked the resolution from the voting. The Senate’s rules suggest that any one senator can ask for consent to pass a bill or resolution, but any one senator can block it. “I do hope that Turkey and Armenia can come together and deal with this problem,” Graham said, reiterating the Turkish perspective that a joint Armenian-Turkish commission should work on the Genocide topic.
