TURKEY, U.S. TRY TO BLOCK ARMENIAN DEATHS MEASURE
By Desmond Butler
Associated Press
Oct 7 2007
Some fear that resolution in Congress branding the WWI killings
genocide would damage Americans’ ties with Turkish government
WASHINGTON – Turkish and American officials have been pressing
lawmakers to reject a measure this week that would declare the World
War I-era killings of Armenians a genocide.
On Friday, the issue reached the highest levels as President Bush
and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan talked by telephone
about their opposition to the legislation, which is to go before the
House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday.
The dispute involves the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians
during the waning years of the Ottoman Empire.
Armenian advocates, backed by many historians, contend the Armenians
died in an organized genocide. The Turks say the Armenians were victims
of widespread chaos and governmental breakdown as the 600-year-old
empire collapsed in the years before Turkey was born in 1923.
Armenian supporters of the congressional measure, which seems to
have enough votes to get approval by both the committee and the full
House, have also been mustering a grass-roots campaign among the
large diaspora community in the United States to make sure that a
successful committee vote leads to consideration by the full House.
Similar measures have been debated in Congress for decades. But
well-organized Armenian groups have repeatedly been thwarted by
concerns about damaging relations with Turkey, an important NATO ally
that has made its opposition clear.
Lawmakers say that this time, the belief that the resolution has a
chance to pass a vote by the full House has both Turkey and Armenian
groups pulling out all stops to influence committee members.
"The lobbying has been the most intense that I have ever seen it,"
said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
Though the largely symbolic measure would have no binding effect on
U.S. foreign policy, it could nonetheless damage an already strained
relationship with Turkey.
After France voted last year to make denial of Armenian genocide a
crime, the Turkish government ended military ties.
Many in the U.S. fear that a public backlash in Turkey could lead
to restrictions on crucial supply routes through Turkey to Iraq and
Afghanistan and the closure of Incirlik, a strategic air base in Turkey
used by the United States. Lawmakers have been hearing arguments from
both sides about those concerns.
The Turkish government has been holding back from public threats
while making clear that there will be consequences if the resolution
is passed.
"There will be a backlash and no government can be indifferent to
that," the Turkish ambassador in Washington, Nabi Sensoy, said.
But Armenian groups charge that behind the scenes, Turkey has been
much more clear.
"Turkey has been threatening every sort of doomsday scenario,"
said Aram Hamparian, executive director of the interest group the
Armenian National Committee of America, which has engaged about
100,000 supporters to call lawmakers about the issue.
"We have been saying that Turkey would harm itself more than the
United States if it carries through with these threats."
Turkey argues that the House is the wrong institution to arbitrate a
sensitive historical dispute. It has proposed that an international
commission of experts examine Armenian and Turkish archives.
In the meantime, the Turkish Embassy has been in close contact with
lawmakers and is using prominent U.S. lobbyists.
Turkish lawmakers have also been manning the phones to congressional
offices.
One congressional aide said Turkey’s military chief, Gen. Yasar
Buyukanit, has been calling lawmakers to argue that a vote will boost
support for Islamists in Turkey.
The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity
of the issue.
The Bush administration has been telling lawmakers that the resolution,
if passed, would harm U.S. security interests.
White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Friday that Bush believes
the Armenian episode ranks among the greatest tragedies of the 20th
century, but the determination on whether "the events constitute a
genocide should be a matter for historical inquiry, not legislation."
White House staff have also spoken with aides to House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi, D-Calif., in the hope that she will stop the measure from
coming to a vote.