TURKEY ACCUSED U.S. LAWMAKERS OF "IRRESPONSIBILITY"

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.1 0.2007 14:11 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "The irresponsible resolution, voted by the
House Foreign Affairs Committee, is likely to endanger bilateral
relations. We still hope that the House of Representatives will
have enough good sense not to take this resolution further," said a
statement issued by the Turkish government.

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

"It is unacceptable that the Turkish nation should be accused of a
crime that it never committed in its history. Many historians assessed
the Ottoman government’s decision to deport Armenians as a security
measure," it said.

"The House of Representatives is not charged with a task to distort
and rewrite history. Meanwhile, our proposal on formation of a joint
commission of historians remains valid. In response to our sincere
proposal Armenia, at first secretly and then openly, supported the
draft resolution," the statement said.

The document said that there is hope for "rational conduct of the
House members" and that the historical responsibility is laid on
Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The Turkish government said it will do its utmost to block passage
of the resolution in the House of Representatives, APA reports.

October 10, with a vote of 27 to 21, the influential panel of
the U.S. House of Representatives took a major step toward ending
U.S. complicity in Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide, adopting
H.Res.106, the Armenian Genocide Resolution, despite an intense
campaign of threats and intimidation by the Turkish government and
its lobbyists in Washington.