Ilhan Omar votes “present” on resolution recognizing Armenian genocide
This week, members of the House of Representatives moved to condemn the Armenian genocide. However, Ilhan Omar wasn’t among them.
During WWI, as many as a million Armenian Christians were murdered by the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor to modern Turkey. On Tuesday, the House passed a resolution recognizing the event as an act of genocide. However, when it was her turn to cast a vote, Omar simply declared herself “present.”
“My issue was with the timing and context”
The Minnesota Democrat explained her choice in a series of tweets.
“My issue was not with the substance of this resolution. *Of course* we should acknowledge the Genocide,” she began.
“My issue was with the timing and context,” Omar continued. “I think we should demand accountability for human rights abuses consistently, not simply when it suits our political goals.”
In a statement sent to CNN, she went on to bring up crimes committed by Americans.
“A true acknowledgment of historical crimes against humanity must include both the heinous genocides of the 20th century, along with earlier mass slaughters like the transatlantic slave trade and Native American genocide, which took the lives of hundreds of millions of indigenous people in this country.”
In response, podcast host Zaid Jilani pointed out that while Congress already has passed resolutions recognizing both slavery and the killing of Native Americans.
“There’s nothing wrong with asking that the U.S. government acknowledge human rights abuses here before we acknowledge them overseas,” he said. “The issue is, the U.S. government already did acknowledge the ones Omar is asking it to acknowledge.”
Van Krikorian is the co-chair of the Armenian Assembly of America, and he wasn’t impressed with Omar’s decision either.
“Innocent people were and are being slaughtered, and there is a universal need to defend the victims of genocide and ethnic cleansing, not to stand with or defer to the murderers,” he said.
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