The Register-Guard, OR
Oct 12 2007

Ethnic cleansing resolution criticized

By Christopher Torchia
The Associated Press

Published: Friday, October 12, 2007

ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey, which is a key supply route to U.S. troops
in Iraq, recalled its ambassador to Washington on Wednesday and
warned of serious repercussions if Congress categorizes the killing
of Armenians by Turks a century ago as genocide.

Ordered after a House committee endorsed the genocide measure, the
summons of the ambassador for consultations was a further sign of the
deteriorating relations between two longtime allies and the potential
for new turmoil in an already troubled region.

Egeman Bagis, an aide to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told
Turkish media that Turkey – a conduit for many of the supplies
shipped to U.S. bases in Iraq and Afghanistan – might have to `cut
logistical support to the U.S.’

Analysts also have speculated the resolution could make Turkey more
inclined to send troops into northern Iraq to hunt Turkish Kurd
rebels, a move opposed by the United States because it would disrupt
one of the few relatively stable and peaceful Iraqi areas.

`There are steps that we will take,’ Turkey’s prime minister told
reporters, but without elaboration. It also wasn’t clear whether he
meant his government would act immediately or wait to see what
happens to the resolution in Congress.

He declined to answer questions about whether Turkey might shut down
Incirlik air base in southern Turkey, a major cargo hub for U.S. and
allied military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Turkey’s
Mediterranean port of Iskenderun is also used to ferry goods to U.S.
troops.

`You don’t talk about such things, you just do them,’ Erdogan said.

The measure before Congress is just a nonbinding resolution without
the force of law, but the debate has incensed Turkey’s government.

The relationship between the two NATO allies, whose troops fought
together in the Korean War in 1950-53, have stumbled in the past.

They hit a low in 2003, when Turkey’s parliament refused to allow
U.S. forces use of their country as a staging ground for the invasion
that toppled Saddam Hussein.

But while the threat of repercussions against the United States is
appealing for many Turks, the country’s leaders know such a move
could hurt Turkey’s standing as a reliable ally of the West.

Turkey’s ambassador in Washington, Nabi Sensoy, was ordered home for
discussions with the Turkish leadership about what is happening in
Congress, Foreign Minister spokesman Levent Bilman said. He said
Sensoy would go back after seven to 10 days.

`We are not withdrawing our ambassador,’ Bilman said. `The ambassador
was given instructions to return and will come at his earliest
convenience.’

The Bush administration, which is lobbying strongly in hopes of
persuading Congress to reject the resolution, stressed the need for
good relations with Turkey.

About 70 percent of U.S. air cargo headed for Iraq goes through
Turkey, as does about one-third of the fuel used by the U.S. military
there. U.S. bases also get water and other supplies carried in
overland by Turkish truckers who cross into Iraq’s northern Kurdish
region.

In addition, C-17 cargo planes fly military supplies to U.S. soldiers
in remote areas of Iraq from Incirlik, avoiding the use of Iraqi
roads vulnerable to bomb attacks. U.S. officials say the arrangement
helps reduce U.S. casualties.

U.S.-Turkish ties already had been strained by Turkey’s complaint
that the United States hasn’t done enough to stop Turkish Kurd rebels
from using bases in northern Iraq to stage attacks in southeastern
Turkey.

Historians estimate up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by
Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I. Turkey denies the
deaths constituted genocide, saying the killings didn’t come from a
coordinated campaign but rather during unrest accompanying the
Ottoman Empire’s collapse.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee passed the resolution despite
lobbying by Turkish officials and the opposition from President Bush.

The vote was a triumph for Armenian-American interest groups that
have lobbied Congress to pass a resolution.

The administration will now try to pressure Democratic leaders in
Congress not to schedule a vote, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
indicated they were committed to going forward.

`Why do it now? Because there’s never a good time and all of us in
the Democratic leadership have supported’ it, she said.

Turkish officials said the House had no business to get involved in
writing history.