ARMENIA HAILS US COMMITTEE’S BACKING OF ‘GENOCIDE’ BILL

ABC Online, Australia
Oct 11 2007

Armenia has hailed a controversial vote by a US House of
Representatives committee branding the Ottoman Empire’s World War I
massacre of Armenians as genocide.

"This is a very important step towards establishing justice," Armenian
Foreign Ministry spokesman Vladimir Karapetian told AFP in Yerevan.

Armenian President Robert Kocharian meanwhile insisted in Brussels that
"there is no doubt anywhere in the world about the events that took
place in Turkey in 1915 and there is a consensual attitude towards
those events."

"The fact that Turkey has adopted a position of denial of genocide
does not mean that it can bind other states to deny the historic
truth as well," he added.

The committee defied warnings from President George W Bush and Turkey’s
authorities, voting Wednesday in favour of the resolution by 27 votes
to 21.

In a statement on Thursday, the Turkish Government condemned the
committee’s action and warned against any move to take it to a full
House vote.

To do so, it added, would jeopardise a strategic partnership with an
ally and friend and would be an "irresponsible attitude".

The text of the resolution says the "genocide" should be acknowledged
fully in US foreign policy towards Turkey, along with "the consequences
of the failure to realise a just resolution".

Mr Kocharian is has expressed optimism about future dialogue.

"We hope that this process will lead to full recognition by the United
States of America of the effect of the Armenian genocide," said.

The Armenian head of state said that his country’s relations with
Turkey could not be further worsened by the US vote, and he invited
Turkey to launch a dialogue.

"In our case, there is nothing that can be worsened or limited by
the adoption of this resolution," he said.

"We are ready for diplomatic relations without any preconditions and
we are ready to start a very wide dialogue with Turkish partners on
all possible issues of Turkish-Armenia relations," he added.

The Armenians say 1.5 million of their kinsmen were killed from 1915
to 1923 under an Ottoman Empire campaign of deportation and murder.

Rejecting the genocide label, Turkey argues that 250,000 to 500,000
Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when
Armenians took up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia during
World War I.