Washington, D.C. --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), co-chairman of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, tonight praised the U.S. House of Representatives for approving an amendment to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 Foreign Operations appropriations bill that prevents Turkey from using U.S. funds to lobby against H.Res.193, the Genocide Resolution. Pallone worked with U.S Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the amendment's sponsor, to have the amendment passed by voice vote this evening on the House floor.

"The passage of this amendment is a major victory," Pallone said after the amendment was accepted. "It clearly sends a message that the United States House of Representatives will not tolerate Turkey's lobbying against the recognition of the Armenian Genocide."

Both Pallone and Schiff spoke on the House floor in support of the amendment. Pallone's floor statement follows.

"Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the amendment offered by Mr. Schiff. It is time for the United States to properly recognize the Armenian Genocide, which is fully documented in the U.S. archives and through an overwhelming body of first-hand, governmental, and diplomatic evidence. Despite the overwhelming evidence, the Turkish government and its paid lobbyists have, through threats and blackmail, sought to prevent the United States from properly commemorating the Armenian Genocide.

"Morally, it is wrong for the American people to be complicit in the Turkish government's effort to deny the suffering and death of over 1.5 million people. I would also like to point out that Turkey's recognition of the Armenian Genocide would represent a meaningful step toward its acceptance into the European family of nations.

"Mr. Speaker, it is time for this body to stop defending and funding a government that continues to deny its own history, and refuses to break with the pattern of intolerance established by past Turkish governments which dealt with minority issues by committing genocide against Armenians, massacring and driving Greeks from its shores, restricting the rights of Christians to worship, and denying the existence of its Kurdish citizens."