The State Department is distancing itself from Congress’ decision to recognize the Ottoman Empire’s massacre of more than a million, mostly Christian Armenians as a genocide.
After the White House failed to thwart the Senate's effort to unanimously recognize the massacre as genocide on Dec. 12, the State Department released a terse statement today reiterating that the Donald Trump administration still does not believe the event qualifies as a genocide. The brief, unprompted statement does not refer to Armenia or to the title of the Senate resolution recognizing the genocide. Instead it simply refers to the legislation by number: Senate Resolution 150.