UPDATED: ARMENIAN AMERICAN CELEBRITIES TO SPEAKER PELOSI: PASS THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION
December 10, 2010WASHINGTON, DC — Kim Kardashian sent a “tweet” to 5.5 million of her fans, then followed up with website and Facebook posts, urging followers to call Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and urge her to schedule a vote on H.Res.252, the Armenian Genocide Resolution. This comes on the heels of Serj Tankian’s Facebook, Twitter and website postings on Wednesday calling on his fans to support the adoption of this human rights legislation, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
“We applaud Kim Kardashian, Serj Tankian and anti-genocide activists from across the country for calling on Speaker Pelosi to schedule a vote on the Armenian Genocide Resolution. Americans of good conscience want to see an end to the cycle of genocide and to do that, we have to start by calling evil by its name,” said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of America.
Kardashian’s tweet was clear and concise: “Everyone: Please call Speaker Pelosi TODAY at (202) 225-0100 and URGE her to schedule a vote on H.Res.252 – the Armenian Genocide Resolution.” Her website post featured a photo from an Armenian Genocide protest and explained, “The Armenian Genocide was a series of terrible massacres committed by Turkey between 1915 and 1923 that killed members of my extended family and over two million other Armenians and Christians in the Ottoman Empire. It’s time for America to speak openly and honestly about this horrible crime against humanity, and the only way this will happen is if WE speak up first.” You can read Kardashian’s post in its entirety here.
Tankian posted on his website – www.serjtankian.com: “After almost 100 years of denial, the time to recognize the Armenian Genocide is NOW, and you can help by lending less than a minute of your time. Call (202) 225-0100 to ask Speaker Pelosi to schedule a vote on the Armenian Genocide Resolution, HRes252. . . No donations, no lengthy dialogs, just a few simple words. This issue is very dear to my heart, and it means so much to me that you take the time to help.” Similar comments were posted to the Axis of Justice website – www.axisofjustice.org – and on Tankian’s Twitter and Facebook page.
Tankian’s latest album, “Imperfect Harmonies,” released earlier this year, features a song, titled “Yes, It’s Genocide” dedicated to the victims and survivors of the Armenian Genocide and all genocides. Tankian had teamed up with the ANCA and Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) in an online campaign urging President Obama to honor his pledge to properly characterize the murder of 1.5 million Armenian by the Ottoman Turkish Government from 1915-1923 as genocide.
Earlier this week, Armenian National Committee of America Regional Chairs Aida Dimedjian and Stephen Mesrobian made a public appeal urging the Speaker to schedule a vote on the key human rights measure. “The spirit of the victims of Genocide and the voices of the survivors and their progeny are calling on the Speaker to bring this resolution for a vote before the 111th Congress adjourns in the next 10 days,” stated Dimedjian and Mesrobian. “Armenians and all the world deserve to know where each member of the U.S. House of Representatives stands on this vital expression of our common American conscience.”
House Resolution 252, introduced by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and spearheaded by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA), Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) along with broad bipartisan base of Congressional leaders from across the U.S. including incoming House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), incoming House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Foreign Affairs Committee Member Ed Royce (R-CA).
The House Foreign Affairs Committee adopted the measure in March, 2010. Similar legislation was adopted at the committee level in the U.S. House in 2000, 2005, and 2007.
The Armenian Genocide resolution “calls upon the President to ensure that the foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented in the United States record relating to the Armenian Genocide and the consequences of the failure to realize a just resolution.” It goes on to urge the President, in his “annual message commemorating the Armenian Genocide issued on or about April 24, to accurately characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000 Armenians as genocide and to recall the proud history of United States intervention in opposition to the Armenian Genocide.”