In historic vote, US House recognizes 'Armenian genocide'

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". [AFP]

The US House of Representatives passed a resolution Tuesday officially recognizing the "Armenian genocide," a symbolic but unprecedented move that angered Turkey amid already heightened tensions with Washington.

Cheers and applause erupted when the chamber voted 405 to 11 in support of the measure "affirming the United States record on the Armenian Genocide," a first for the US Congress, where similar measures with such direct language have been introduced for decades but never passed.