Senate passes resolution recognizing Armenian genocide

Dec. 12 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate passed a resolution Thursday to recognize the Armenian genocide after three prior attempts failed.

The resolution officially recognizes the systematic killing of 1.5 million Armenians from 1915 to 1923 by the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., passed the resolution after Republican senators blocked three previous attempts as the White House feared it would upset the Turkish government while U.S.-Turkey relations were tense.

"Today, by passing my #Armenian Genocide resolution, the Senate finally stood up to confirm history: What happened in Armenia was -- most assuredly -- genocide," Menendez posted on Twitter. "There is no other word for it. There is no euphemism. There is no avoiding it."

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said that it took "too long" to pass the resolution, noting the three other times it failed.

"This is the third week in a row we have come to the Senate floor seeking to pass this resolution, and I'm grateful that today we have succeeded," Cruz said. "This is a moment of truth that was far too long coming."

The House passed a similar resolution recognizing Armenian genocide in October. It's not clear at this point whether President Donald Trump will sign the resolution into law.

On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations passed sanctions legislation to address Turkey's military incursion into northeast Syria and attack on the United States' Kurdish allies, along with its purchase of the Russian S-400 defense system, which has affected potential delivery of F-35s to Turkey.

"As long as the S-400s are in Turkey under Turkish control, there will be no F35s delivered to Turkey," Senate Foreign Committee Relations Chairman Jim Risch said in a statement.