ANALYSTS: US CONGRESSIONAL RESOLUTION ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IS SYMBOLIC
By Margaret Besheer
Voice of America
voa76.cfm
Oct 11 2007
The U.S. House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee has
narrowly passed a non-binding resolution declaring as a genocide the
World War I-era killings of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by
Ottoman Turks. VOA’s Margaret Besheer looks at the implications of
such a measure.
>From 1915 to 1923, Armenians accuse the Ottoman Turks of killing as
many as 1.5 million of their people in systematic deportations and
killings in a push to drive them out of eastern Turkey.
On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives foreign affairs
committee adopted what is known as a non-binding resolution that
declares those mass killings a genocide.
Allan Lichtman, a professor of history at American University,
explains that a non-binding resolution is purely symbolic and does
not change U.S. law or policy.
"A non-binding resolution expresses the sentiments or opinion of
Congress," said Allan Lichtman. "It could be one house of Congress
or both houses of Congress, but it does not actually change policy
because it does not have the force of law."
He says non-binding resolutions are not uncommon, especially in matters
where Congress does not want to change policy or does not have the
necessary votes to do so. Lichtman points to a recent example of a
non-binding resolution.
"The House recently passed a non-binding resolution opposing the troop
surge by the Bush administration in Iraq," he said. "That obviously
was very hotly debated and very hotly contested even though it had
nothing to do with stopping the president from putting into effect
the troop surge."
Wednesday’s passage by the foreign affairs committee is a first step
to sending the resolution to the entire House of Representatives for
a vote. But even if it passes there, it will still have no legal or
policy implications.
But despite that, the Turkish government has been very vocal about the
resolution, warning that its adoption would severely harm relations
between Ankara and Washington.
The Bush administration also strongly opposed the measure. Some
70 percent of air cargo headed for coalition forces in Iraq passes
through Turkey as does a third of fuel going to coalition forces in
Iraq by road.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (r) and Defense Secretary Robert
Gates, 10 Oct 2007 Earlier Wednesday, Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice said the United States recognizes the tragedy against the Armenian
people, but that passage of such a resolution right now would not be
helpful to U.S.-Turkish relations and U.S. interests in the region.
"The passage of this resolution would be very destabilizing to our
efforts in the Middle East, very destabilizing to our efforts in Iraq
and Afghanistan, because Turkey, as an important strategic ally,
is very critical in supporting the efforts we are making in these
crucial areas," said Condoleezza Rice.
Non-binding resolutions have no formal penalities against the party
they censure, but their symbolism can be very contentious. In this
case, although the bill is not an indictment of modern Turkey, there
are concerns that a public outcry in that country could lead to Ankara
placing restrictions on vital supply routes through Turkey into Iraq
and Afghanistan, as well as jeopardize U.S. access to a strategic
Turkish air base.