TURKEY’S LOBBYISTS ENLIST FORMER US SECRETARIES OF STATE TO KILL ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION
ArmRadio – Public Radio, Armenia
Sept 27 2007
Fearing an imminent vote on the Armenian Genocide Resolution
(H.Res.106), Turkey’s multi-million dollar lobbyists have solicited
the assistance of eight former US Secretaries of State in seeking to
derail this human rights legislation, reported the Armenian National
Committee of America (ANCA.).
"Facing a growing bipartisan Congressional majority demanding
passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution, Turkey’s lobbyists –
out of desperation and a never ending desire to squeeze more billing
dollars out of Ankara – have turned to the very architects of our
government’s failed policy of appeasing Turkey," said Aram Hamparian,
Executive Director of the ANCA. "Sadly, successive US administrations
have found themselves lacking the moral courage to end the cycle of
genocide – from Cambodia, to Rwanda and, today in Darfur – precisely
because of their legacy of caving in to, rather than confronting
genocidal regimes."
"We are, as Americans, especially troubled that, in warning Congress
not to make a simple anti-genocide statement for fear of upsetting
Turkey, these officials would outsource our nation’s moral conscience
to a foreign government," added Hamparian.
In their September 25th jointly-signed letter, former Secretaries of
State Madeleine Albright, James Baker III, Warren Christopher, Laurence
Eagleburger, Alexander Haig, Jr., Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell,
and George Schultz, urged Speaker Pelosi to, "prevent the resolution
from reaching the House Floor," thereby denying House Members an
opportunity to vote their conscience on the Armenian Genocide. The
former State Department officials expressed concern that passage of
the resolution "could endanger our national security interests in
the region, including our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and damage
efforts to promote reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey."