ARMENIA CONCERNED ABOUT FATE OF PROPOSED GENOCIDE RESOLUTION IN U.S. CONGRESS

The Associated Press
International Herald Tribune, France
March 6 2007

WASHINGTON: Armenia’s foreign minister says he is worried about
high-level Turkish lobbying against a proposed congressional resolution
that would recognize as genocide the early 20th century killings of
up to 1.5 million Armenians.

Vardan Oskanian, in Washington on Monday for meetings with Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice and members of Congress on wide-ranging
topics that included the proposed genocide resolution, said in an
interview that Armenia feels compelled to discuss the resolution
because of public warnings by Turkey against its passage.

"Governments should stay away from meddling in these matters," Oskanian
told The Associated Press. "But when topics of interest for Armenia
are being discussed, we cannot remain as a government indifferent,
particularly in light of Turkish lobbying at a government level."

The comments follow recent visits to Washington by top Turkish
officials including Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, who warned last
month that the resolution, if passed, would harm Turkish-American
relations.

The White House, which also sees the issue as a threat to relations
with Turkey, has been trying to quash the legislation.

Armenian-American groups have been thwarted for years in efforts to
get a resolution through the U.S. Congress. The bill introduced in
the House of Representatives in January is thought to stand a much
better chance of passing a floor vote but would require support from
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to be offered for consideration.

Armenians, supported by numerous scholars, contend that Turkey’s
predecessor state, the Ottoman Empire, caused the Armenian deaths in
a genocide. They have been adamant that the killings be recognized
as among history’s worst atrocities.

The Turkish government contends the 1.5 million death toll is wildly
inflated. It also says the Armenians were killed or displaced in
civil unrest during the disarray that surrounded the empire’s collapse.

Turkey illustrated how seriously it takes the issue in October,
when it said it would suspend military operations with France after
French lawmakers voted to make it a crime to deny that the killings
were genocide.

Oskanian said that the Turkish warnings were an attempt to silence
critics of Turkey’s position on genocide abroad as it has domestically
through its penal code.

"Now Turks are traveling to punish the United States if the U.S.
Congress dares to speak out about the genocide," he said.

Oskanian said he discussed the resolution with Rice in Monday’s
meeting; which also focused on broader relations with Turkey;
negotiations with Azerbaijan to settle their dispute over the
territory of Nagorno-Karabakh; and on preparations for Armenia’s
elections in May.