ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL HITS CLOSE TO GLENDALE HIGHEST U.S. POPULATION OF ARMENIANS
By John North

abc7.com, CA
Oct 11 2007

GLENDALE, Oct. 10, 2007 (KABC-TV) – The House of Representatives
Foreign Relations Committee has approved a resolution recognizing the
killing of Armenians by Turks in the early 20th century as genocide.

President Bush is against the measure. The local Armenian community
reacts.

President Bush was defeated in the first round of an unusual attempt
to stop a congressional resolution; one the administration says would
set back progress in the Middle East.

The House Foreign Relations Committee approved a resolution condemning
the World War I-era killing of Armenians by Turks as genocide.

"This resolution is not the right response to these historic mass
killings. Its passage would do great harm to our relations to a key
ally in NATO and in the global war on terror," said President Bush.

One-and-a-half million Armenians were killed. The Turks say it was
part of war. But Armenian-Americans and Armenians who watched the
hearing say it was a government attempt to slaughter Armenians.

The Glendale area is home to more Armenians than any other place in
the United States. They have been pushing for a resolution recognizing
the genocide for decades.

"They presume that it will be less headache, less work, less difficulty
for them to deal with a Turkey that is obstinately stamping their
foot at history and thumbing their nose at human rights," said Haig
Hovsepian, community relations director for the Armenian National
Committee.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert
Gates also talked to reporters. They warned that Turkey would block
logistical and other support for the Iraq war.

El Segundo Democratic Representative Jane Harman is a co-sponsor of
the resolution in the House of Representatives. Over the weekend she
reportedly backed down and said she would vote against it.

California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein is a strong supporter
of the resolution condemning what happened as genocide.

"To remember history is not to repeat it. That’s the point. And to
embroider this to be more than that is a mistake," said Feinstein.

Some historians call it the first genocide of the 20th century. But
now in the 21st century it has become intertwined with a nation’s
sensitivities, international politics, economics and the war in Iraq.

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