RUBEN SAFRASTYAN: US CONGRESS MAY ADOPT A BILL CONDEMNING THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Public Radio, Armenia
Nov 28 2006

The US Congress, in the person of the Democratic Party, may possibly
adopt a bill condemning the Armenian Genocide, Director of the Oriental
Studies Institute of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences Ruben
Safrastyan said in an interview with "Armenpress.

According to him, it is hard to predict now what impact it will have
on the position of the US Administration and the US foreign policy,
to what extent the US will be able to exert influence Turkey.

In his words, during the past 10 years the attitude of American
intellectuals towards the Armenian Genocide issue has changed
abruptly. If by mid-1990s some scholar were saying that the Armenian
Genocide really occurred, he was considered to be hired by Armenians.

In the recent years the fact of the Armenian Genocide has not been
questioned in university, scientific and intellectual circles of the
United States. According to Ruben Safrastyan, a substantial segment
of the political elite also realizes pretty well what happened in
reality, but they refuse to recognize the fact "because of certain
political considerations." "The Republican Party is not ready to
recognize the Armenian Genocide, fearing that it will endanger the
US-Turkey relations.

"However, Turkish-American relations aggravated in 2003 when Turkey did
not allow the US troops to pass through its territory," the Director
of the Oriental Studies Institute said.

According to him, the US is afraid that if Turkey strengthens the
Islamic factor, it will be able to create instability in the Middle
East. Americans fear they will not manage to impact the Turkish policy,
the army and economic potential of which can become destabilizing
factors.