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2020 candidates line up behind Armenian genocide bill as US-Turkey relations plummet

Strained relations between the NATO allies has given advocates hope the United States will finally call the Ottoman Empire’s mass slaughter of Christians in World War I a genocide.
Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) arrives to speak at the North America's Building Trades Unions (NABTU) 2019 legislative conference in Washington, U.S., April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas - RC1AB0F71E60

As Turkey continues to lose clout in Washington amid strained bilateral ties, Armenian-American advocacy groups are hopeful this will be the year the United States finally recognizes the World War I era massacre of more than 1 million mostly Christian Armenians as a genocide.

More than 100 lawmakers in the House and Senate have signed on to legislation recognizing the genocide since its introduction earlier this month, in line with past efforts. And President Donald Trump, whose evangelical base supports the move, is expected to issue a statement marking the anniversary of the massacre on April 24.

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