Senior Congressional leaders serving on key foreign policy and appropriations panels have lent their support to a groundbreaking human rights measure that seeks improved Armenian-Turkish ties based upon Turkey’s acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide and a just international resolution of this still unpunished crime, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

Among the top House Committee leaders supporting H.Res.227, the Armenian Genocide Truth and Justice Resolution are: Representatives Eliot Engel, the Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee; Scott Garrett, the Chairman of the Financial Markets Subcommittee on Capital Markets; Rush Holt, the Ranking Member of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy; Steve Israel, the Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee; Nita Lowey, the Ranking Member on the Appropriations Committee; Grace Napolitano, the Ranking Member of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power; Devin Nunes, the Chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade; Janice Schakowsky, the Chief Deputy Whip; Allyson Schwartz, the Vice Ranking Member on the Budget Committee, Brad Sherman, the Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, John Tierney, the Ranking Member of the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security; Chris Van Hollen, the Ranking Member on the Budget Committee, and; Henry Waxman, the Ranking Member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Introduced and spearheaded by Congressmen David Valadao, Adam Schiff, Michael Grimm and Frank Pallone in May of this year, the Armenian Genocide Truth and Justice Resolution reflects and reinforces previous U.S. affirmation of the Armenian Genocide as a crime of genocide, citing the U.S. Government’s May 28, 1951 written statement to the International Court of Justice regarding the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, President Ronald Reagan’s April 22, 1981 Proclamation and Congressional adoption of Armenian Genocide legislation in 1975 and 1984.