Senate backs measure affirming Armenian genocide

WASHINGTON » The Senate approved a resolution Thursday that recognizes the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago as genocide, an action that prompted angry denunciations by Turkish leaders and accusations that the U.S. was undermining its relations with a key NATO ally.

The Senate vote follows a vote by a Senate committee to impose sanctions on Turkey after its offensive in Syria and purchase of a Russian S- 400 missile system.

The actions were the latest by Congress to push President Donald Trump to take a harder line against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who Trump said last month was “doing a fantastic job for the people of Turkey.’’

The Armenian resolution and the sanction bill passed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee “endanger the future of our bilateral relations,” said Fahrettin Altun, a spokesman for Erdogan.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the Senate vote “is a shameful example of the politicization of history. However, those who use history for political purposes will never achieve their goals.’’

The Armenian resolution had been blocked three times at the request of the White House but won unanimous approval Thursday.

Co- sponsored by Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, the nonbinding resolution affirms that the genocide occurred and that Turkey is responsible.

“I say to my friends and colleagues that genocide is genocide,’’ Menendez said on the Senate floor. “Senators in this body should have the simple courage to say it plainly, say it clearly and say it without reservation.’’

Menendez and Cruz tried three times to bring up the resolution using a procedural maneuver that would allow approval on a voice vote, a way to avoid lengthy floor debate. Each time, a Republican senator objected, citing White House disapproval.

Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, who objected to the measure last week, said he agreed to do so at the White House’s request because the vote would have occurred around the time of a NATO summit where Trump, Erdogan and other leaders gathered in London.

The House passed an identical resolution overwhelmingly in October in what widely was seen as a rebuke to Turkey after its invasion of northern Syria.

Activist groups cheered the Senate vote as long overdue. “The president ran out of people he could turn to to enforce Erdogan’s veto,’’ said Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America.

Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed around World War I, and many scholars see it as the 20th century’s first genocide.