Turkey says it “strongly hopes” U.S. Armenian genocide resolution
does not go to full vote
.c The Associated Press
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) – Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said Friday it
“greeted with sadness” the passage by a U.S. congressional committee
of two resolutions that denounce the deaths of Armenians early last
century as genocide, and hoped U.S. legislators would not allow the
resolutions out of committee.
“In the period ahead, we believe that members of the U.S. Congress
will act with a responsibility befitting the Turkish-American
relationship, and strongly hope that the resolutions will stay in the
committee and not be carried to the floor,” the statement said.
Turkey vehemently denies that the killings of Armenians by Ottoman
Turks around the time of World War I was genocide, and the Turkish
government has made it a policy to fight recognition of an Armenian
genocide.
Armenians and several nations around the world recognize the killings
as the first genocide of the 20th century.
In 2000, under direct pressure from then-U.S. President Bill Clinton,
a resolution on the Armenian genocide was shelved hours before it was
to go to vote before the full U.S. House of Representatives.
It is not clear if or when the current resolutions will be brought
before the full House.
09/16/05 13:43 EDT