WHITE HOUSE: GENOCIDE RESOLUTION WOULD HURT RELATIONS WITH KEY ALLY

CNN News
key.armenians/
Oct 10 2007

WASHINGTON (CNN) President Bush and key figures in his administration
lobbied hard Wednesday against a House resolution that labels the
killings of Armenians in Turkey during World War I as "genocide."

President Bush urges the House not to pass a resolution he says would
harm U.S. relations with Turkey.

1 of 2 The president, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense
Secretary Robert Gates said passage of the resolution would hurt
relations with an important U.S. ally.

Bush urged lawmakers to oppose the resolution, which he said would
cause "great harm" to U.S. relations with Turkey, which he called a
key ally in NATO and the "global war on terror."

"We all deeply regret the tragic suffering of the Armenian people
that began in 1915. This resolution is not the right response to
those historic mass killings," Bush said at the White House.

Earlier, Rice and Gates made their comments jointly before reporters
at the White House. They said Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S.

military officer in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker,
and head of U.S. Central Command Adm. William Fallon raised concerns
about the resolution.

"We recognize the feelings of those who want to express their concern
and their disdain for what happened many years ago," Rice said. "But
the passage of this resolution at this time would, indeed, be very
problematic for everything that we’re trying to do in the Middle East
because we are very dependent on a good Turkish strategic ally to help
with our efforts." Watch why Rice and Gates oppose the resolution "

The nonbinding proposal, which is to be considered by the House
Foreign Affairs Committee, refers to the "genocide" of Armenians in
the early 20th century during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire,
which preceded the creation of modern Turkey in 1923.

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Turkey hits rebels in Iraq "In the case that Armenian allegations are
accepted, there will be serious problems in the relations between
the two countries," said President Abdullah Gul in a letter to
President Bush.

Nabi Sensoy, Turkey’s ambassador to the United States, told CNN the
resolution’s passage would be a "very injurious move to the psyche
of the Turkish people."

He predicted a "backlash" in the country, saying there would
be setbacks on several fronts: Turkish-American relations,
Turkish-Armenian relations and the normalization of relations between
the nations of Turkey and Armenia.

Gates said good relations with Turkey are vital because 70 percent
of the air cargo intended for and 30 percent of the fuel consumed by
the U.S. forces in Iraq flies through Turkey.

U.S. commanders, Gates said, "believe clearly that access to airfields
and roads and so on in Turkey would very much be put at risk if
this resolution passes and the Turks react as strongly as we believe
they will."

"Our heavy dependence on the Turks for access is really the reason
the commanders raised this and why we’re so concerned about the
resolution," Gates said.

The resolution, which has much support in the full House, calls on
the president "to ensure that the foreign policy of the United States
reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues
related to human rights, ethnic cleansing and genocide documented in
the United States record relating to the Armenian genocide, and for
other purposes."

A similar resolution passed the committee by a 40-7 vote two years ago,
but it never reached the full House floor. House Republican leader
John Boehner, noting the critical military and strategic alliance
with Turkey, said bringing the resolution to the floor would be
"totally irresponsible."

"Let the historians decide what happened 90 years ago," Boehner said
in a written statement.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, the resolution’s author and sponsor,
refers to "the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000
Armenians as genocide."

The term genocide is defined in dictionary.com as "the deliberate
and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or
cultural group."

But the description is hotly disputed in Turkey, the predominantly
Muslim, but modern and secular, pro-Western ally of the United States.

Turks argue that all peoples — Armenians and Turks — suffered during
the warfare. But Armenians maintain there was an organized genocide
by the Ottoman Turkish authorities, and have been campaigning across
the world for official recognition of the genocide.

The resolution arrives at a particularly sensitive juncture in
U.S.-Turkish relations. The United States has urged Turkey not to
send its troops over the border into northern Iraq to fight Kurdish
separatist rebels, who have launched some cross-border attacks against
Turkish targets.

Observers of U.S.-Turkish relations have argued that the House
resolution could make Turkey less inclined to use restraint in dealing
with its longstanding problems with the Kurdistan Workers Party.

Schiff, who represents a southern California district with many
Armenian-Americans, said the "bipartisan measure currently has 226
cosponsors, more than a majority in the House and the most support
an Armenian genocide resolution has ever received."

"The United States has a compelling historical and moral reason to
recognize the Armenian genocide, which cost a million and a half people
their lives," said Schiff. "But we also have a powerful contemporary
reason as well. How can we take effective action against the genocide
in Darfur if we lack the will to condemn genocide whenever and wherever
it occurs?"

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress