Ilhan Omar's constituents reject dog whistle attacks from Donald Trump as he makes push for Minnesota in 2020

Ilhan Omar refuses to back vote recognising Armenian genocide

Congresswoman says 'a true acknowledgement of historical crimes against humanity' must include 'earlier mass slaughters like the transatlantic slave trade'

Chris Riotta
New York
@chrisriotta
Wednesday 30 October 2019 15:32
0 comments

Ilhan Omar declined to vote in favour of a resolution recognising the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as a genocide, saying any "true acknowledgement" of such crimes must include other historical "mass slaughters".

The Minnesota Democrat was one of just three House members to vote “present” on the resolution that passed in an overwhelming 405-11 vote.

The congresswoman said in a statement shortly after the vote she believes in “accountability for human rights violations” but “accountability and recognition of genocide should not be used as cudgel in a political fight.

“It should be done based on academic consensus outside the push and pull of geopolitics”, she said.

Ms Omar appeared to be referring to the increasingly tense developments surrounding Turkey’s invasion into Syria after the US pulled its troops out of the region.

“A true acknowledgement of historical crimes against humanity must include both the heinous genocides of the 20th century, along with earlier mass slaughters like the transatlantic slave trade and Native American genocide, which took the lives of hundreds of millions of indigenous people in this country”, she continued in the statement sent to CNN.

All 11 House members who voted “no” on the resolution were Republican. Paul Gosar, an Arizona Republican, and Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Texas Democrat, joined Ms Omar in voting “present”.

Democratic leaders in the House celebrated the passing of the resolution, including House Intelligence Committee Chairmen Adam Schiff, who wrote on Twitter: “The House just voted to recognise the Armenian Genocide - a vote I fought for 19 years to make possible, that tens of thousands of my Armenian American constituents have waited decades to see."

“We will not be party to genocide denial”, he added. “We will not be silent. We will never forget."

Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement the resolution was passed “in solemn remembrance of one of the great atrocities of the 20th Century”.

Turkish officials meanwhile slammed the resolution, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said “This step which was taken is worthless and we do not recognise it”, the BBC reported.

The Turkish president also said the country’s parliament would respond to the US resolution.

Comments

Share your thoughts and debate the big issues

Learn more

Delete Comment

Are you sure you want to delete this comment?

Report Comment

Are you sure you want to mark this comment as inappropriate?

Please be respectful when making a comment and adhere to our Community Guidelines.

  • You may not agree with our views, or other users’, but please respond to them respectfully
  • Swearing, personal abuse, racism, sexism, homophobia and other discriminatory or inciteful language is not acceptable
  • Do not impersonate other users or reveal private information about third parties
  • We reserve the right to delete inappropriate posts and ban offending users without notification

You can find our Community Guidelines in full here.

Create a commenting name to join the debate

Create a commenting name to join the debate

  • Newest first
  • Oldest first
  • Most liked

There are no Independent Premium comments yet - be the first to add your thoughts

Please be respectful when making a comment and adhere to our Community Guidelines.

  • You may not agree with our views, or other users’, but please respond to them respectfully
  • Swearing, personal abuse, racism, sexism, homophobia and other discriminatory or inciteful language is not acceptable
  • Do not impersonate other users or reveal private information about third parties
  • We reserve the right to delete inappropriate posts and ban offending users without notification

You can find our Community Guidelines in full here.

Create a commenting name to join the debate

Create a commenting name to join the debate

  • Newest first
  • Oldest first
  • Most liked

There are no comments yet - be the first to add your thoughts