In the weeks leading up to April 24th, the ANCA formally invited scores of senior Administration officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry, to attend the April 24th Capitol Hill Armenian Genocide remembrance.  On the morning of the observance, after weeks of consideration, the State Department informed the ANCA that, as a matter of policy, the Obama Administration had decided not to participate in the event, or even to arrange for a single official to be present at the Congressional program.  The State Department remains set, however, over ANCA's objections, to send U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone to speak at an April 26th Washington, DC conference of the ATAA, a group devoted, in large part, to the denial of the Armenian Genocide.

As in years past, the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues - co-chaired by Representatives Grimm and Pallone - was joined by Armenian American organizations, the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia, and the Office of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in hosting the event.  In addition to remarks by legislators, powerful speeches of solidarity with the global movement for a just resolution of the Armenian Genocide were offered by Armenia's Ambassador to the U.S., Tatoul Markarian, and Republic of Nagorno Karabakh Representative Robert Avetisyan.