PELOSI TO BRING UP ‘GENOCIDE’ BILL

Gulf Times, Qatar
Oct 12 2007

WASHINGTON: House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said
yesterday she would present an Armenian "genocide" bill to the
Democratic-led chamber despite US and Turkish anger over the measure.

"It has come out of committee and it will go to the floor," she told
reporters after the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted on Wednesday
to label the wartime massacre of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as
"genocide."

However, bringing a legislative measure to the floor does not guarantee
that it will proceed to a full vote, a step that the White House
warned could cause "great harm" to relations with Nato ally Turkey.

Pelosi did not specify a date for the floor debate on the non-binding
resolution, but reports said she was considering November. Asked
whether she was concerned a heated House debate could damage the
crucial military and diplomatic alliance between the US and Turkey,
Pelosi said she had been hearing such talk for 20 years.

"Why do it now? Well because there is never a good time," she said.

The US and Turkey have a very strong relationship, it is based on
mutual interest.

"This isn’t about the Erdogan government, this is about the Ottoman
Empire."

Authored by Democratic Representative Adam Schiff, whose California
district contains the country’s largest ethnic-Armenian community,
the measure has already won support from at least 226 co-sponsors in
the 435-seat House.

State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said meanwhile the
administration would maintain intense pressure on lawmakers, in an
attempt to thwart the resolution.

"We are going to be continuing to work with Congress on this and
try and see if we can keep it from passing on the floor," Casey
told reporters.

According to the Armenians, 1.5mn 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.