US congress approves resolution calling killings of Armenians genocide

Associated Press , THE JERUSALEM POST

Oct. 11, 2007

A US congressional panel defied President George W. Bush on Wednesday
and approved a measure calling the killings of Armenians early in the
last century genocide. Bush had warned this would damage US goals in
the Middle East.

The measure that would recognize the killings of Armenians as a
genocide had been strongly opposed by Turkey, a key NATO ally that has
provided support to US efforts in Iraq.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee’s 27-21 vote now sends the measure
to the full House floor _ unless the Democratic leadership reverses
course and heeds Bush’s warnings.

Bush and other senior officials had made a last-minute push to
persuade lawmakers on the House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs
Committee to reject the measure.

"Its passage would do great harm to our relations with a key ally in
NATO and in the global war on terror," Bush said hours before the
vote.

The dispute involves the killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians by
Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed
by genocide scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey
denies that the deaths constituted genocide, says the toll has been
inflated and insists that those killed were victims of civil war and
unrest.

Just ahead of the vote, Turkey made a final direct appeal to US
lawmakers to reject the resolution. The US vote comes as Turkey’s
government was seeking parliamentary approval for a cross-border
military operation to chase separatist Kurdish rebels who operate from
bases in northern Iraq. The move, opposed by the United States, could
open a new war front in the most stable part of Iraq.

Shortly before Bush spoke against the resolution, Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates stood before
microphones on the White House driveway to express the administration’
s worries.

Gates said that 70 percent of US air cargo headed for Iraq goes
through Turkey, as does about a third of the fuel used by the US
military in Iraq.

"Access to airfields and to the roads and so on in Turkey would very
much be put at risk if this resolution passes and Turkey reacts as
strongly as we believe they will," Gates said. He also said that 95
percent of the newly purchased Mine Resistant Ambush Protected
vehicles are being flown through Turkey to get to Iraq.

Most Democrats and even some Republicans rejected the administration’s argument.

The committee’s chairman, Democratic Rep. Tom Lantos, expressed
concerns about security implications of the resolution but ultimately
voted in favor.

"The sad truth is that the modern government of Turkey refuses to come
to terms with this genocide," said Republican Rep. Chris Smith. "For
Armenians everywhere, the Turkish government’s denial is a slap in the
face."

The White House and Turkey are now expected to pressure Democratic
leaders to keep the measure from going to a vote. But Democratic
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has signaled that they will have a
hard sell.

Pelosi and the second-ranking Democrat in the House, Majority Leader
Steny Hoyer, met Wednesday with Turkish Ambassador Nabi Sensoy but
emerged from the meeting unswayed. Hoyer told reporters he expects a
floor vote on the measure before the House adjourns for the year.

Armenian-American groups, who have worked for decades to pass a
resolution, rejoiced at the committee’s work.

"The Foreign Affairs Committee’s adoption today of the Armenian
Genocide Resolution represents a meaningful step toward reclaiming our
right, as Americans, to speak openly and honestly about the first
genocide of the 20th century," said Aram Hamparian, executive director
of the Armenian National Committee of America.

>From the other side, Turkey’s ambassador to the United States, Nabi
Sensoy, said Turkey would now focus on preventing the measure from
coming to the floor.

"There is no doubt that there will be a setback in our relationship,"
he said after the vote.

Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, the resolution’s sponsor, who is not on
the committee, said he hoped it would now move quickly to a vote on
the House floor. He said passage of the resolution would give the
United States "the moral authority it needs to take action against
other genocides like that taking place today in Darfur."

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