HOUSE PANEL PASSES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

Reuters
Wed Oct 10, 2007 5:27 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. House committee approved a resolution
calling the 1915 massacres of Armenians genocide on Wednesday,
brushing aside White House warnings that it would do "great harm"
to ties with NATO ally Turkey, a key supporter in the Iraq war.

The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee approved the
resolution 27-21. It now goes to the House floor, where Democratic
leaders say there will be a vote by mid-November. There is a companion
bill in the Senate, but both measures are strictly symbolic, and do
not require the president’s signature.

Turkey calls the resolution an insult and rejects the Armenian
position, backed by many Western historians, that up to 1.5 million
Armenians suffered genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks during World
War One. Turkey has warned of damage to bilateral ties if Congress
passes the measure.