On 12 December, the US Senate unanimously adopted the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA)-backed Resolution 150 which expressed “the sense of the Senate that it is the policy of the United States to commemorate the Armenian Genocide through official recognition and remembrance” in regard to the events in the Ottoman Empire in year 1915 occured. 

The resolution was introduced in April by Democratic Senator Robert Menendez and his Republican colleague Ted Cruz and co-sponsored by 26 other senators. Menendez and Cruz stepped up their push for its passage after the House of Representatives adopted a similar resolution in late October (Caucasus Watch reported).  For three consecutive weeks the Senate bill was blocked by other Republican senators, reportedly at the request of the White House concerned about its impact on U.S.-Turkish relations. Menendez’s and Cruz’s fourth attempt to get it passed proved successful, with no senators voicing objections this time around.

“The Senate today joined the House in rejecting Ankara’s gag-rule against honest American remembrance of the Armenian Genocide – overriding the largest, longest foreign veto over the U.S. Congress in American history,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparyan.

“US Senate Resolution 150 is a victory of justice and truth. On behalf of the Armenian people worldwide, I express our profound appreciation to the Senate for this landmark legislation,” Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wrote on Twitter. Armenia’s Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan called the resolution a decisive step in serving justice, truth and recognition of the Armenian Genocide. 

The Turkish officials reacted angrily to the adoption of the resolution. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called the vote a “political show” on social media, adding that “it is not legally binding and it has no validity whatsoever.” Turkey’s state-run news agency, Anadolu, quoted Cavusoglu as saying that those who use history for political purposes are “cowards who do not want to face the truth”. Turkey’s foreign ministry also issued a statement condemning the vote as “one of the shameful examples of how history can be politicized.”