Two members of the three-member Armenian delegation that attended the debate and vote on the Armenian Genocide at the US House Foreign Affairs Committee March 4 shared their impressions with journalists in Yerevan on Tuesday, saying they believe that the vote is the first step taken by the United States towards recognizing the Armenian Genocide. They urged the US legislature to continue the recognition process in spite of serious pressures coming from the Turkish Government and Turkish lobbyist organizations.

“The Armenian organizations in the United States and the Armenian Government must do everything possible so that the resolution reaches the House floor before the end of the legislature’s current term [in November 2010],” said Koryun Nahapetyan, a member of the Armenian delegation representing the ruling Republican Party of Armenia.

On Thursday, March 4, the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee approved HR 252 by 23 votes to 22. This became the fourth such resolution approved by the key House committee since 2000. It was the first time when an Armenian parliamentary delegation was attending the Committee discussions. Republicans Koryun Nahapetyan, Artak Zakaryan, and Dashnak Vahan Hovhannisyan were on the Armenian delegation.

Nahapetyan believes that the participation of the Armenian delegation in the HR 252 debate was an Armenian diplomatic victory.

“I think it is important that all the congressmen who made speeches, even those who voted against the resolution, did not reject the fact of the Armenian Genocide,” Nahapetyan said.

The Armenian lawmakers brushed aside the threats being voiced in Turkey in connection with the resolution. They said such threats were also issued by Turks before the adoption of the previous resolutions in the United States as well as when Russia and France were adopting resolutions recognizing the Armenian Genocide – the threats that Turks did not follow through, however.