Southeast European Times, MD
March 27 2007
US Secretary of State Rice, administration officials warn against
Armenian genocide resolution
27/03/2007
Top US officials, including Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, have
been seeking to convince lawmakers not to pass a resolution that
defines the World War I killings of Armenians as genocide. Supporters
say the bill is a moral imperative, but opponents argue that it would
hurt US interests and damage ties with Ankara.
The United States should leave Turkey and Armenia to resolve their
dispute on whether the mass killings of Armenians in the wane of the
Ottoman Empire constituted genocide, US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice told a US Congressional committee Wednesday (March
21st).
"What we’ve encouraged the Turks and the Armenians to do is to have
joint historical commissions that can look at this, to have efforts
to examine their past, and in examining their past to get over it,"
the AP quoted her as saying. "I don’t think it helps that process of
reconciliation for the United States to enter this debate at that
level," Rice added.
She was responding to Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif), sponsor of a bill
defining the killings of up to 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire during World War I as genocide. Supporters say passing such
legislation is a moral imperative, while opponents argue that the
cost, in terms of US interests and relations with Ankara, is too
high.
In recent weeks, senior US officials have sought to convince
lawmakers that passage of such legislation might not only damage
US-Turkish co-operation, but could impede efforts by Turkey’s
Armenian community to persuade the country to come to terms with its
past.
"Members of the Armenian-Turkish community tell us that such
resolutions would stifle the dialogue they seek and would even raise
popular emotions so dramatically as to threaten the progress they
have made in Turkey," US Assistant Secretary of State for European
and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried said in a testimony before the
House Foreign Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Europe on March 15th.
He also warned that if the legislation were passed, Turkey might
respond by closing down the Incirlik air base, a key hub for air
cargo shipments for US troops in Iraq. According to Fried, Ankara
could also move to slow down traffic at the Habur gate on the border
with Iraq, or restrict overflight rights for US aircraft.
"Turkey’s contribution to the global war on terrorism and US
strategic objectives in the region is significant – it would all be
at risk," Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Europe and NATO
Daniel Fata told lawmakers at the same hearing on February 15th.
Similar worries were expressed in joint identical letters sent by
Rice and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates to House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi and other senior members of Congress.
Submitted on January 30th, Resolution 106, co-sponsored by nearly 180
US lawmakers, is expected to be put to the vote in the 435-member
House of Representatives in April. A similar bill was introduced in
the 100-seat Senate last week, with 21 of the body’s members backing
it.
Rep. Schiff says the legislation is needed in order to protect the
moral authority of the United States in dealing with human rights
atrocities, such as the killings in Darfur.
"More often with friends than foes you have to speak candidly," a UPI
report quoted him as saying. "I happen to believe … that the final
act of genocide is the denial of genocide."
Both resolutions would be non-binding and have no legal bearing on US
foreign policy. But their passage would serve as a rebuff to Turkey.
It has long argued that the killings, rather than constituting
genocide, were part of a general climate of instability in which
Turks also died. Analysts say the government of Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan would face strong domestic pressure to respond.
After France last year passed a bill making it a crime to deny that
the massacres of Armenians were a genocide, Turkey suspended all
military ties with the country, suspending also military contracts
that were already under discussion.
Recent months have seen increased lobbying efforts by senior Turkish
officials, including Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and Chief of the
General Staff General Yasar Buyukanit.
A Turkish parliamentary delegation visited the United States last
week to press Ankara’s case against the bill, and representatives of
the Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association are
currently in Washington for the same reason.
sources: (AP, UPI – 21/03/07; The Washington Times – 20/03/07;
Hurriyet, Middle East Newsline – 19/03/07; Turkish Daily News, The
New Anatolian, Turkish Press – 17/03/07; Eurasianet, Turkish Daily
News, Zaman – 16/03/07; AP, Turkish Press, US Department of State –
15/03/07; AP – 14/03/07)
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