WASHINGTON – There is a chance that during the forthcoming days, when the United Nations is marking the anniversary of the Genocide Convention, the US Senate will adopt the Armenian Genocide Resolution. Last week, after the senator from North Dakota Kevin Cramer blocked the affirmation of S. Res 150, Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) pledged to bring the Armenian resolution back every week until it is confirmed. Cramer himself later told CNN he “doesn’t know that it can be objected to much longer.”
In the event that the affirmation does not happen over the next three days, the legislators will most probably go on New Year recess and adjourn in early January of 2020.
Last Sunday, December 8, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), a key co-sponsor of the resolution, was a guest on NBC’s Meet the Press. The Republican senator on what NBC describes as “America’s most watched Sunday morning broadcast” stated that “We’re likely to finally acknowledge the horrific Armenian genocide, which I’ve been fighting for years to do.”
Cruz and the moderator discussed also US-Russia relations, Ukraine, the National Defense Authorization Act and the ongoing presidential impeachment. Is this a common occurrence that the Armenian Genocide has turned into one of the hottest topics of the nation, discussed by NBC, CNN, Newsweek, the New York Times and a variety of other mainstream outlets?
Bryan Ardouny, the executive director of the Armenian Assembly of America (AAA) recalls that in 2015, the centennial year of the Genocide, the US media dedicated substantial attention to the Armenian Genocide and again when the Pope condemned the denial of this historical truth.
“Certainly there is coverage and that’s important because it’s part of an educational effort,” Ardouny said when we sat for an interview at AAA’s headquarters in Washington. He also summarized some other developments for Armenians in Washington this year which add to the generally positive context of the Genocide resolutions.
