ARMENIA RESOLUTION PUTS U.S., TURKEY IN BIND
By Lydia Gensheimer and Elaine Monaghan, CQ Staff

Congressional Quarterly, DC
056.html
Oct 11 2007

A resolution that the Bush administration warned could fray
U.S. relations with Turkey and open a fresh conflict in Iraq will
reach the House floor before Congress adjourns this year.

In the face of intense pressure from the administration and Turkish
government officials, who visited several congressional offices
Wednesday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted, 27-21, to
approve a non-binding resolution urging President Bush to recognize
as genocide the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians in the former Ottoman
Empire nearly a century ago.

The vote represents another challenge to U.S.-Turkish relations and
further complicates efforts to sustain the U.S. military effort in
Turkey’s neighbor, Iraq. It could also embolden Turkey to invade the
Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., said the resolution,
which has 226 cosponsors, would "come to the floor before we leave
on Nov. 16."

Backed by House Foreign Affairs Chairman Tom Lantos, D-Calif., the
sole Holocaust survivor in Congress, the measure (H Res 106) was
endorsed by the panel despite pleas from President Bush, Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates,
who, like officials in previous administrations, opposed applying
the label of "genocide" to the Armenian deaths.

Turks generally portray the mass killings as only one side of an
interethnic conflict during and after World War I, in which many of
their fellow Muslim Turks also were killed. They want a joint panel
of Turkish and Armenian historians to hammer out a version of history
both sides can agree upon.

Average Turks may not understand that the resolution is not binding and
will be angered by the vote, Turkish politicians and analysts warned.

Turkish people strongly opposed the invasion of Iraq and generally
believe it is now facing a surge in Kurdish militant violence from
northern Iraq as a result. The Turkish government reported this week
that at least 15 Turkish soldiers were killed by Kurdish separatists.

Lawmakers faced a "sobering choice" between wanting to acknowledge
the Armenian tragedy and ensuring the safety of U.S. forces in Iraq
by not alienating Turkey, Lantos said.

Bush said the measure would do "great harm" to relations with Turkey.

Administration officials stressed that its approval could undermine
U.S. policy in the Middle East.

"About 70 percent of all air cargo going into Iraq goes through
Turkey," Gates said. "About a third of the fuel that they consume
goes through Turkey or comes from Turkey."

That message clearly got through to Mike Pence, R- Ind., who voted
against the resolution, saying he nonetheless believed genocide had
been committed.

"I believe this is a season that calls for standing with our troops
first, who are in harm’s way," he said.

Democrats Robert Wexler of Florida and David Scott of Georgia agreed,
saying, respectively, that passage of the resolution will "inflame a
region of the world already under great duress" and that "the Armenian
question is plain as day."

"What was done to them was wrong. The issue is, what is in the best
interest of the national security of the United States?" Scott said.

Others fell in step with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, who
has long supported genocide recognition for the Armenians, thousands
of whom make up a vocal and influential community in her home district.

Brad Sherman, D-Calif., said, "We cannot provide genocide denial as
one of the perks of friendship with the United States."

In an unusual gesture, Pelosi was on hand to greet Patriarch Karekin
II, worldwide leader of the 7 million-member Armenian Apostolic Church,
after he gave the opening invocation for Wednesday’s House session.

Democrats said his presence on the day of the vote was a coincidence.

Documents dating back to May showed that the pontiff had been invited
to speak on Oct. 10 by Joe Knollenberg, R-Mich.

Intensive Lobbying The Turkish Embassy and a visiting delegation of
parliamentarians mounted a fierce campaign to stop the resolution,
threatening that Turkey had the power to hamper logistical supply
efforts for troops in Iraq. Pelosi met with Turkish Ambassador Nabi
Sensoy early Wednesday.

Egemen Bagis, a close foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Tayyip
Erdogan, said on the eve of the vote that there would be an outcry
if the resolution passed.

"Turkey is not an emirate or a monarchy," he said in a clear dig at
some of the less democratic U.S. allies in the Middle East, "but a
democracy, and public pressure does count."

Asked what Turkey might do, he said he could not say whether it
would affect military cooperation, purchasing, energy cooperation
or logistical supplies to Iraq. "But I’m sure there will be some
reaction. Politically we will have to do something."

The resolution could fuel calls for an invasion of northern Iraq by
Turkish forces to kill members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party
(PKK), blamed by Turkey for more than 30,000 deaths since it launched
its campaign for a Kurdish homeland in 1984. The Turkish government
is seeking parliamentary approval for a potential military incursion
into northern Iraq, and the military already is moving more troops
and equipment to the border.

"This issue is so big in Turkey that if the resolution passes,
the public will demand strong action on behalf of the government,"
a senior U.S. official said. He also predicted that it could lead
to the closure of the base used by U.S. planes. "This will probably
close Incirlik air base and increase the chances of an invasion"
by Turkish forces into Iraq.

Colby Itkowitz and Alan K. Ota contributed to this story.