191030 Armenia
Armenian President Armen Sarkisian, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Catholicos Garegin II, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and other officials attend a ceremony commemorating the 104th anniversary of the massacre of 1.5 million of Armenians by Ottoman forces in 1915, at the Tsitsernakaberd memorial in Yerevan. Image Credit: AFP

Washington: The US House of Representatives took the historic step Tuesday of passing a resolution officially recognizing the “Armenian genocide,” a move sure to anger Turkey amid already-heightened tensions with Washington.

Cheers and applause erupted when the chamber voted 405 to 11 in support of the resolution “affirming the United States record on the Armenian Genocide,” a first for the US Congress where similar measures have been introduced but never reached the floor for a vote.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was honored to join her colleagues “in solemn remembrance of one of the great atrocities of the 20th century: the systematic murder of more than 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children by the Ottoman Empire.”

The Armenians say the mass killings of their people from 1915 to 1917 amounted to genocide, a claim recognized by some 30 countries. Turkey strongly denies the accusation of genocide.