Turkey Responds to the Passage of the Armenian Genocide Recognition Resolution

On October 29, a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide was passed by a majority vote in the U.S. House of Representatives. Out of the representatives who participated in the voting, 405 voted in favor, 11 against, and 3 abstained, while 14 congressmen did not vote.

The passage of the resolution has triggered significant hysteria in Turkey. Within hours, statements were made by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the President's spokesman, the head of the public relations department of the Turkish Presidency, and the Minister of Justice. Additionally, the U.S. ambassador in Ankara was summoned, according to regionmonitor.com.

Almost all officials asserted in their statements that this resolution attempts to turn “history into a political tool” and added that the decision of the U.S. House of Representatives has no validity for them. Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu hinted in his speech that this decision is an attempt to take revenge for Turkey’s military operation “Peace Spring” in Syria.

The news of the resolution's passage has dominated headlines in almost all Turkish media with titles such as “Great Hostility from the U.S. towards Turkey,” “U.S. Scandalous Decision,” and “Exceeding Limits Decision by the U.S. House of Representatives,” among others.

Notably, unlike Turkish media reports where the term Armenian Genocide is put in quotes, the Turkish service of Euronews published the expression without quotes.

Discussions have also been active in the Turkish social media space. Users began circulating infographics about U.S. history, pointing out that there are dark pages in the nation’s past as well. Interestingly, many Turkish users welcomed the decision. One even wrote, “I do not know what happened 100 years ago, but I have seen how a person who killed an Armenian for his identity was portrayed with the Turkish flag instead of being arrested and brought to justice. The phrase ‘Armenian Genocide did not happen’ is one of the biggest lies in Turkey.”

Moreover, a well-known Turkish human rights activist, Tuna Bekleviç, with his thousands of followers, posted on his Twitter microblog saying, “Nine years ago on this day, I was in Yerevan. I spoke about opening the border without preconditions. Immediately afterward, I was accused of being an ‘Armenian spy.’ A hundred years have passed, and Turkey still has not faced the reality. The time has come for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and the opening of the border.” The topic of recognizing the Armenian Genocide by the U.S. House of Representatives is currently the most discussed subject in Turkish media and social networks.