TURKEY WARNS BILATERAL TIES CAN BE DAMAGED IF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL PASES IN THE US CONGRESS

ArmRadio – Public Radio
Oct 10 2007
Armenia

President Abdullah Gul has written to US President George W. Bush
warning him that bilateral ties will be damaged if Congress approves
a bill recognizing the killings of Armenians in the last years of
the Ottoman Empire as genocide, the Turkish daily News reports.

"In his letter our president thanked President Bush for his efforts
(to block the bill) and drew attention to the problems it would create
in bilateral relations if accepted," said the presidential office in
a statement.

If the bill passes, Ankara might cut logistic support to US troops
in Iraq. The bulk of supplies for US troops in Iraq pass via the
Ýncirlik air base in southern Turkey.

In the meantime a senior lawmaker from the ruling Justice and
Development Party (AKP) said the place of the Armenian bill was
a dustbin.

The AKP’s deputy Egemen Baðýþ is lobbying in the United States against
the controversial bill together with opposition deputies.

Baðýþ is accompanied by a deputy from the Republican People’s Party
(CHP), Þukru Elekdað, and the Nationalist Movement Party’s (MHP)
deputy, Gunduz Aktan, according to the Turkish Daily News.

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