Armenian Genocide Education Act set for introduction

WASHINGTON, DC –The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) welcomed news that Representatives Anna Eshoo (D-CA), David Valadao (R-CA), Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) are re-introducing the Armenian Genocide Education Act, a bipartisan measure – building upon official US Congressional and Presidential recognition of this crime – to fund Library of Congress educational programs about the history, lessons, consequences and ongoing costs of the Armenian Genocide.

This landmark legislation – strongly supported by the ANCA – seeks to provide $10 million in funding over five years for the Library of Congress to educate Americans about Ottoman Turkey’s systematic and deliberate state-sponsored mass murder, national dispossession, cultural erasure and exile of millions of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syriacs, Arameans, Maronites and other Christians between 1915 and 1923.

“With Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey, openly seeking to complete the Armenian Genocide, it’s more urgent than ever for American school children to learn the lessons of this still unpunished – still ongoing – crime against all humanity,” said ANCA executive director Aram Hamparian. “Chief among these lessons is that we – as Americans – must never, for reasons of political convenience or practical expediency, turn a blind eye to state-driven genocidal campaigns to eradicate indigenous populations or other at-risk groups, anywhere in the world.”

Building upon the 2019 passage of H.Res.296 and S.Res.150 – which specifically rejected any official US association with Armenian Genocide denial – the Armenian Genocide Education Act seeks to counter discourse and propaganda that claims that Ottoman Turkey’s systematic and deliberate state-sponsored mass murder, national dispossession, cultural erasure, and exile of millions of Christians between 1915 and 1923 did not take place. A similar measure was introduced in the last session of Congress.

Members of Congress can join as original cosponsors of the measure in the days leading up to its introduction, timed around April 24th, the international day of justice for the Armenian Genocide.

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ANCA

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is the largest and most influential Armenian-American grassroots organization. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters and supporters throughout the United States and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCA actively advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.

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