YEREVAN (News.am)—A delegation of Armenian parliament members will leave for Washington DC on Wednesday in an apparent effort to facilitate the passage of the Armenian Genocide resolution.
The Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to discuss and vote on the proposed legislation on Thursday. It urges President Barack Obama to “accurately characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000 Armenians as genocide.”
The delegation comprises: Artak Zakaryan of the Republican Party, Armen Melikyan of Prosperous Armenia, Vahan Hovhannesian of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation and Koryun Nahapetyan a non-affiliated member of parliament.
The four parliamentarians will arrive in Washington at the invitation of Frank Pallone and Mark Kirk, the two U.S. lawmakers co-chairing the congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues. The bipartisan group, currently numbering 150 House members, has long been pushing for Armenian Genocide recognition.
RFE/RL reported Tuesday that Pallone and Kirk asked their Armenian colleagues to “present their views on and approaches to issues of mutual interest” to U.S. legislators and foreign policy-makers. The genocide resolution will be the main focus of their meetings in Washington.
A similar delegation of Turkish parliamentarians is already in Washington, meeting with U.S. officials and lobbying against the resolution.
they should have been here since last week. Why are they here yet? Are they just going to show up from a red eye flight on Thursday morning and go to the hearing? What a bunch of numb****
this is so pathetic effort, the government of Armenia is placing zero effort for this.
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Actually this is a bigger step than they have taken in recent years. Can you recall any other time the AG bill has come up and an Armenian parliamentary delegation has come to DC?
I’m not settling for mediocrity. We can’t afford half ass efforts and their efforts aren’t good enough. How long have they known about this resolution coming to a vote on March 4th ….??????? A good couple of weeks at worst. Spare me the attributions ok. It’s a big step yes and they should have made it a hell of a while back as well. Good Morning Armenian government officials !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Welcome to the real world! No messing around here in DC. Get the job done or someone else will.
I agree hye for life…….if they wanted a handout they would have beeen here last month……how sad that they place such little imporatnce on such a great issue….typical mentality from oligarch puppets
The government of Armenia and its criminal oligarkhs at the parliament are preoccupied with more important things, lining their pockets is one of them. As for the people of Armenia, they are just too impoverished and repressed, seeking their daily bread, to add their voice to the genocide matters. That’s the reality of modern-day Armenia. Diasporans need to rely on themselves and their grassroot groups to advance the recognition issue. Diasporans also need to stop the shameful practice of supporting illegitimate, unpopular, undemocratic regimes (past or current) in Armenia or turning a deaf ear on repressions against the citizens of Armenia. Regimes and people are two divergentlydifferent things in the country, and Diasporan Armenians need to find the ways to support the people in avoidance of supporting the government.
As Artak correctly says, the Oligarchs have no interest in pursuing the Genocide Recognition issue, unless it advances their profits. Right now, their is more financial gain for them actually to sweep the Genocide issue under the carpet and shake friendly hands with Turks. Secretive negotiations and signing of protocols last year are the hard evidences. They can have direct routes to Turkey (instead of through Georgia) to exchange their goods , humans, and services with their counterparts in Turkey.
The poor citizens in Armenia are barely managing to put bread on their table in order to feed their children. The young educated generation is looking for a way to move to Europe or North America. Genocide issue is secondary or tertiary for them.
I agree that the delegates should have come here at least a few days earlier in order to coordinate their efforts with our community leaders and advocates and also to avoid jet-lag and time difference issues. As far as the Armenian Government is concerned, they should have also sent the Foreign Minister or the Prime Minister to support the case. The Turks are sending both Davutoglu and Erdogan to Washington in late March to derail the process.
Time and time again the experience has shown that ARF is the only political body which has been genuinely pursuing the issue as one of the top priority items in their manifest. May God be with them in this difficult road ahead.