On October 29, 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 405-11 to commemorate the Armenian Genocide, the century-old killings of 1.5 million Armenians and other Christian minorities by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923.

Forty-nine states, including California, have also recognized the Genocide, along with over 30 countries including Canada, France, and Germany. The House’s overwhelming support of House Resolution No. 296, “Affirming the United States record on the Armenian Genocide,” sponsored by Representative Adam Schiff, was a sharp condemnation to Turkey, which has lobbied for decades against the United States’ recognition of the Genocide.

Most historians recognize the killings of Armenians and other ethnic and religious minorities by the Ottoman Empire a century ago as genocide. The Honorable Henry Morgenthau, U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1913-1916, led protests against what he described as the empire’s “campaign of race extermination” of the Armenians. Ambassador Morgenthau’s efforts led President Woodrow Wilson to encourage the formation of Near Eastern Relief, chartered by an Act of Congress, which raised $116 million (over $2 billion today) between 1915 and 1930, and the Senate adopted resolutions condemning these massacres.

It has been posited why Genocide recognition matters now—after all, the events took place a century ago in the twilight of the Ottoman Empire. But for Genocide survivors and their descendants, recognition brings awareness and healing, and the passage of the House resolution has been received as a long hoped-for victory.

In 1939, Hitler set the stage for the Holocaust when he ordered his military commanders to attack Poland without provocation and dismissed their objections by saying, “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?” Over 6 million Jews perished in the Holocaust, and other groups were also systematically persecuted and murdered.

In 1944, attorney Raphael Lemkin coined the term “genocide.” He was the earliest supporter of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, and cited the Armenian case as a clear-cut example of genocide in the 20th century. The Turkish government’s longstanding policy has been to deny that genocide occurred.

The resounding passage of House Resolution No. 296, which is nonbinding, appears to bring to a head a long-debated issue that has faced the United States ever since the outbreak of the Genocide. While the House passed similar resolutions in 1975 and 1984—and President Ronald Reagan acknowledged the Genocide through Proclamation No. 4838 on April 22, 1981—the Turkish government continues to the present day to deny the Genocide and aggressively lobbies Congress and the White House to not officially recognize it.

Support for Armenian Genocide recognition has grown in response to Turkey’s military invasion into Syria, the ongoing campaign against the Kurds who live along the Turkish- Syrian border, fears of ethnic cleansing of Kurds by Turkey, and the cooperation of Turkey and Russia in relation to the ongoing withdrawal of U.S. troops in northern Syria.

But times have changed. Representative Steve Cohen, co-chair of the Turkish Caucus, who has always opposed genocide recognition, voted in favor of the resolution because of his belief that Turkey at present does not seem to respect the United States at all. Currently, a similar resolution is being led by senators Ted Cruz and Bob Menendez in the U.S. Senate, and has the support of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Senate’s former Majority Whip John Cornyn.

It has been posited why Genocide recognition matters now—after all, the events took place a century ago in the twilight of the Ottoman Empire. But for Genocide survivors and their descendants, recognition brings awareness and healing, and the passage of the House resolution has been received as a long hoped-for victory. The Armenian community in Los Angeles (which has one of the largest diaspora communities outside of Armenia) and across the nation has commended the House for passing the resolution.

On a broader scale, support for Armenian Genocide recognition has grown in response to Turkey’s military invasion into Syria, the ongoing campaign against the Kurds who live along the Turkish- Syrian border, fears of ethnic cleansing of Kurds by Turkey, and the cooperation of Turkey and Russia in relation to the ongoing withdrawal of U.S. troops in northern Syria. Ironically, a century ago, several groups of Kurds participated in the Armenian Genocide. But others opposed the Genocide, risking their own lives to adopt or hide Armenian refugees.

Concerns that Turkey is once again involved in ethnic cleansing, this time of Kurds, was a motivating force in the passage of the House resolution.

The Kurds are native to an area of Western Asia known as Kurdistan. This area spans parts of Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Iraq. The Kurds have long sought—and been denied—a homeland. In recent years, the United States has allied with Syrian Kurdish forces against Islamic State militants. It was a Kurdish forces informant who helped facilitate the U.S.-led raid that killed Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the world’s most wanted terrorist and leader of the Islamic State.

Turkey’s invasion into the region to establish a border zone for resettlement of Syrian Arab refugees, combined with U.S. troop removal, has all but quashed the Kurdish hopes for self-governance which they had moved towards in northeastern Syria after the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War. It is reported that hundreds of Kurds have lost their lives and over 200,000 have been displaced by these actions. Concerns that Turkey is once again involved in ethnic cleansing, this time of Kurds, was a motivating force in the passage of House Resolution No. 296.

Fears of escalating tensions caused by Turkey’s invasion into Syria, a developing humanitarian crisis, and the prospective undoing of collective gains against the Islamic State, also sparked the House to overwhelmingly pass 403-16, House Resolution No. 4695, the “Protect Against Conflict by Turkey Act” on October 29.

The House’s passage of the Armenian Genocide resolution and the “Protect Against Conflict by Turkey Act” are timely as cracks in the relationship between Turkey and its NATO partners continue to deepen and widen.

Sponsored by House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) Chairman Representative Eliot Engel and strongly supported by HFAC Ranking Member Representative Mike McCaul, this bill would impose sweeping sanctions against Turkey, including a ban on arms sales to Turkey, sanctioning of foreigners providing arms to Turkish forces in Syria, as well as financial and visa penalties on officials involved with the invasion, and financial sanctions on the Turkish state-owned bank.

The bill also seeks to force the Trump administration to impose the previously mandated sanctions under “Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act” for Turkey’s acquisition of a Russian S-400 missile defense system. The Senate is considering introducing a Turkey sanctions bill as well.

The House’s passage of the Armenian Genocide resolution and the “Protect Against Conflict by Turkey Act” are timely as cracks in the relationship between Turkey and its NATO partners continue to deepen and widen. It serves as a reminder that history remembers the Armenians. The lessons learned from the past must be applied in the present—to deter and condemn genocide worldwide now and in the future.

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Michelle Marie Kezirian is a Pacific Council member, attorney at law, and co-chair of the Pacific Council’s GTMO Task Force.

The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Pacific Council.