GENOCIDE BILL WOULD HURT TIES WITH UNITED STATES, SAYS TURK PM
China Post
Reuters
Oct 6 2007
Taiwan
ANKARA — Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told U.S. President
George W. Bush that ties between the two countries would be hurt if the
U.S. Congress passed a bill branding the 1915 mass killing of Armenians
by Ottoman Turks "genocide," Turkish television reported on Friday.
Erdogan, who issued a similar warning earlier this year, made the
comment in a telephone call which he made to Bush, news channels CNN
Turk and NTV reported.
The Bush administration opposes the resolution on the events in
1915 as the Ottoman Empire broke apart, but the U.S. Congress is now
dominated by the Democratic Party and has become more influenced by
the Armenian diaspora.
Turkey is a key NATO ally of Washington and a moderate Muslim country
whose support it needs in the region as it fights Iraqi insurgents
and confronts Iran over its nuclear programme.
A senior Turkish lawmaker has also warned previously that Ankara could
consider restricting the U.S. military’s use of Incirlik air base,
a logistics hub for the Middle East, if the bill is passed.
Turkey has already sent delegations to the United States in a bid to
halt the resolution. Turkish media reported on Friday that the bill
would be taken up by Congress’s Foreign Relations Committee on Oct.
10. Turkey denies a systematic genocide of Armenians took place, saying
large numbers of Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks died in inter
ethnic fighting as the Ottoman Empire collapsed during World War I.