LONG BRANCH, NJ - One month after U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert canceled a vote on the Armenian Genocide Resolution, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Co-Chairman of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, last Tuesday asked the Speaker to reconsider his decision and bring the resolution up for a vote in the final weeks of the congressional session.

Pallone made his request in a letter sent to the Speaker the same day [Nov. 28]. The New Jersey Congressman said he realized Hastert pulled the resolution at the request of President Clinton, who voiced concerns about its impact on U.S. interests in the Middle East.

"Mr. Speaker, earlier this year, you promised to bring this resolution to the House floor for a vote," Pallone wrote in his letter. "President Clinton's opposition should not have been a surprise since both he and the U.S. State Department have opposed recognition of the Armenian Genocide from day one and have often used national security as their reason.

"We, the most powerful country in the world, should not succumb to the threats of the Turkish government and not acknowledge the most heinous crime against humanity -- genocide," Pallone continued. "While Turkey is a valued ally, presumably Turkey feels the same about the United States. The relationship is mutually beneficial and it is simply not in Turkey's best interest to sever relations with the United States over a sense of the House resolution."

Pallone also mentioned several decisions regarding the Armenian Genocide by European countries over the last month. The European Parliament decided to call on the Turkish Government to end its campaign to deny the Armenian Genocide, and both the Italian Parliament and French Senate voted overwhelmingly to adopt their own versions of the Armenian Genocide Resolution.

The Armenian Genocide Resolution, which calls on the President to use the word "genocide" when referring to the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Empire forces in the early decades of the 1900s, was approved by the House International Relations Committee by a vote of 24 to 11 in September. Pallone has been an active supporter of the legislation, and believes that if the Speaker allowed the House to go on record, his colleagues would overwhelmingly support the resolution.