US ARMENIAN RESOLUTION ‘INDIGESTIBLE’ TO TURKEY

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 13 2007

The Turkish prime minister’s foreign policy advisor has said insulting
the Turkish nation with a genocide that their ancestors did not commit
would be "indigestible," referring to the Armenian genocide resolution
pending in the US Congress.

Speaking to Today’s Zaman in Ýstanbul before leaving this weekend for
the US with a group of Turkish legislators to lobby in Washington
against the resolution, Justice and Development Party (AK Party)
deputy Egemen Baðýþ said at a time when Turkey and the US have
numerous joint projects going on, including Iraq’s reconstruction,
the resolution’s passage would be unacceptable for the Turkish public,
whose support for America’s foreign policy has been extremely low.

"Adding these genocide allegations on top of the current bad situation
would be like adding insult to injury. It would make things more
complicated. This is not a threat. It would put the government in an
awkward situation."

Baðýþ recalled that 80 percent of the logistical goods that the US
troops use in Iraq go through Turkey and that 60 percent of them are
made in Turkey.

"Turkey is the country with the second-highest casualties in Iraq
after the US. Although we don’t have any troops in Iraq, the Turkish
truck drivers, engineers, construction workers and contractors who
lost their lives in the efforts to rebuild Iraq, have reached about
150," he said, adding that the Turkish government has to take public
opinion into consideration and take measures if such a resolution
passed in the US Congress.

"We’re hoping that those lawmakers in the United States understand
the implications of the resolution, which they think is just a local
issue to please their local Armenian constituency and has no binding
effect on Turkey. But it’s more than that. It can really inflect
long-lasting damage to the relationship."

That’s why he and a second parliamentary delegation visited to
Washington on Sunday, Baðýþ said. He is joined by AK Party deputies
Reha Denemec and Vahit Erdem, and main opposition Republican People’s
Party (CHP) deputies Ersin Arýoðlu and Bihlun Tamaylýgil.

Also the chairman of Turkey-USA Interparliamentary Friendship Caucus,
Baðýþ said the delegation will participate in a meeting of the
Turkish-American Council today. The delegation will talk with members
of Jewish organizations and travel to Chicago, which has very strong
Turkish-American and African-American Muslim communities.

The Armenian genocide resolution was introduced on Jan. 30 and
currently has about 170 cosponsors.

Turkey rejects the "genocide" label and argues that 300,000 Armenians
and at least as many Turks died in civil strife, when Armenians took
up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia and sided with Russian
troops invading the crumbling Ottoman Empire during World War I.

US President George Bush will have to persuade the new
Democratic-controlled Congress, which does not need presidential
approval for such a resolution.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who will decide whether to offer the bill
for a full vote if, as expected, it is approved by the House Foreign
Affairs Committee, has expressed support.

–Boundary_(ID_D5ImvuOdcAbua8DSIGM3Ug)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress