HEAD OF TURKEY’S PARLIAMENT TELLS U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER ARMENIA GENOCIDE BILL WILL HARM TIES
International Herald Tribune
The Associated Press
Oct 7 2007
France
ISTANBUL, Turkey: The head of Turkey’s Parliament warned the United
States against passing an Armenian genocide bill, saying in a letter
to the U.S. House speaker that the move would harm bilateral ties,
his office said Sunday.
Parliament Speaker Koksal Toptan said in his letter to House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi that "it might take decades to heal negative effects of
the bill if it passes," Toptan’s office said in a statement.
Toptan – who is elected by the legislative body to chair parliamentary
sessions – is considered neutral toward all political parties.
The genocide bill declares the killings of Armenians between 1915
and 1917 a genocide, though it would have no binding effect on the U.S.
foreign policy. The U.S. House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs
Committee is expected to consider the legislation this week.
Toptan’s letter said the passing of the bill would be declared by
Armenians as a confirmation of their view of the historical dispute.
"Then, it will be difficult to control the dynamics triggered by
Turkish public reaction," it said.
On Friday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told U.S. President
George W. Bush that the measure would "harm the strategic partnership"
between the two countries.
Toptan said Armenia did not respond positively to Turkish proposal to
establish a commission of historians to examine Turkish and Armenian
archives and to share their findings with the public.
Armenians say more than 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a
systematic genocide in the hands of the Ottomans during the World
War I, before modern Turkey was born in 1923.
Turkey says the death toll is inflated and that the deaths occurred
at a time of civil unrest.
Public opinion polls show that the United States has become widely
unpopular in Turkey because of opposition to U.S. policy in Iraq.
After France voted last year to make denial of Armenian genocide
a crime, the Turkish government ended military ties. A similar move
with the United States could have repercussions on operations in Iraq
and Afghanistan, which rely heavily on Turkish support.