TRUTH V. THE MACHINE: ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VOTE
by Jeff Kouba
Kennedy vs. The Machine
October 10, 2007 Wednesday 12:44 PM EST
Oct. 10, 2007 (Kennedy vs. The Machine delivered by Newstex) —
On Wednesday, Oct 10, the US House will likely vote on H. Res. 106,
which recognizes the Armenian genocide. The House of Representatives
finds the (1) The Armenian Genocide was conceived and carried out by
the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, resulting in the deportation
of nearly 2,000,000 Armenians, of whom 1,500,000 men, women, and
children were killed, 500,000 survivors were expelled from their
homes, and which succeeded in the elimination of the over 2,500-year
presence of Armenians in their historic homeland. Though President
Bush doesn’t want to see this pass, (and this has come up before)
Turkey has warned of damaged The Bush administration is opposed to
the bill, but Congress is now dominated by its Democratic opponents.
"In his letter our president thanked President Bush for his efforts
(to stop the bill) and drew attention to the problems it would create
in bilateral relations if it is accepted," President Abdullah Gul’s
office said in a statement. It did not provide further information. A
senior lawmaker of Turkey’s ruling AK Party, Egemen Bagis, was quoted
this week as saying Ankara might cut logistic support to U.S. troops
in Iraq if Congress backs the bill. The bulk of supplies for troops
in Iraq pass via Turkey’s Incirlik airbase. Turkish media have said
U.S. firms could also be blocked from winning defense and other
contracts if the bill passes. Turkey, a NATO ally of Washington,
strongly rejects the Armenian position, backed by many Western
historians and a growing number of foreign parliaments, that up
to 1.5 million Armenians suffered genocide at the hands of Ottoman
Turks during World War One. Ankara says many Muslim Turks as well as
Christian Armenians died in inter-ethnic conflict as the Ottoman Empire
collapsed. Turkey has long resisted efforts to declare what happened
in Armenia as genocide. This is a messy realpolitik question in
foreign affairs. Does the US stand for human rights and recognize the
awful things that happened, or does the US hold back from officially
recognizing those events as genocide and maintain relations with an
important Muslim ally in a rather important part of the world. Among
the 226 cosponsors are Minnesota Representatives Bachmann, Ellison,
McCollum, Peterson and Walz. Aside from seeing Bachmann in that
company, it’s interesting to see Ellison as a cosponsor. Turkey, the
Muslim nation, does not want to see this resolution pass. Relations
are already a bit frayed over what the PKK is doing.