ANKARA: ‘Approval Of Armenian Bill Will Harm Our Interests’

‘APPROVAL OF ARMENIAN BILL WILL HARM OUR INTERESTS’
By Anadolu News Agency

Zaman, Turkey
Sept 16 2005

zaman.com

US State Department Assistant Secretary for legislation affairs, Matt
Reynolds, wrote a letter to Henry Hyde, US House of Representatives
International Relations Committee head, indicating that the US
administration is against the approval of Armenian bills seeking for
recognition of the so-called Armenian genocide.

The House discussed two Armenian bills earlier today.

Despite the letter of objection prepared by the US administration
and sent to Hyde, the bill has been approved by the House.

Reynolds’s letter to Hyde said US President George W. Bush acknowledged
in his April 24 statement the “tragic events that happened in Eastern
Anatolia when the Ottoman Empire was about to end,” which Armenians
are inclined to see as the 90th anniversary of the so-called genocide.

The letter also indicated the committee apparently determined to
discuss these bills, but the US administration would resist the
approval of these two bills.

If these bills are put on the agenda of the House General Assembly
for discussion, that will harm Turkish and American relations and
stop Ankara and Yerevan relations from improvement.