National Public Radio (NPR)
October 11, 2007 Thursday
SHOW: Morning Edition 10:00 AM EST

Genocide Resolution Riles Turkey, White House

ANCHORS: DEBORAH AMOS, STEVE INSKEEP

It’s MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I’m Deborah Amos.

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

And I’m Steve Inskeep.

The use of a single powerful word is at the center of a dispute
between the United States Congress and Turkey. The word is genocide.
It refers to the killing of one and a half million Armenians during
World War I in what is now Turkey. Turkey has actually put people on
trial for referring too harshly to that episode. So you could imagine
the repercussions after our House Committee voted to call it
genocide.

To understand how two nations ended up arguing over history, you need
to know that there is an influential Armenian-American lobby. You
also need to travel part way around the world and back in time, which
we will do in the next few minutes.

Our trip begins with NPR’s Brian Naylor.

BRIAN NAYLOR: The Bush administration tried every tool on its
workbench to dissuade committee members from approving the
resolution. President Bush himself spoke of the consequences of
offending the Turkish government in remarks he made on the White
House lawn.

President GEORGE W. BUSH: We all deeply regret the tragic suffering
of the Armenian people that began in 1915. But this resolution is not
the right response to these historic mass killings. And it’s passage
would do great harm to our relations with a key ally in NATO and in
the global war on terror.

NAYLOR: Earlier, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense
Secretary Robert Gates made a similar case to reporters. Rice said
the resolution would, in her words, be very problematic for
everything we’re trying to do in the Middle East. Gates was more
specific. He said top military brass, including General David
Petraeus and Admiral William Fallon, had a view as central command
fear of backlash by Turkey could harm the war effort in Iraq.

Secretary ROBERT GATES (U.S. Department of Defense): About 70 percent
of all air cargo going into Iraq comes – goes through Turkey. About a
third of the fuel that they consume goes through Turkey or comes from
Turkey. They believe, clearly, that access to airfields and to the
roads and so on in Turkey, would be very much put at risk if this
resolution passes. And the Turks react as strongly as we believe they
will.

NAYLOR: Members of Congress also heard from half a dozen former
secretaries of defense and secretaries of state, all warning of the
threat to U.S. national security should the resolution pass.

President Bush also used another tool at is disposal: personally
phoning members of the House Foreign Affairs panel, and in the words
of one lawmaker, offering deals for votes against the resolution. But
despite his public and private lobbying efforts, the committee defied
the president.

Brian Naylor, NPR News, the White House.

DAVID WELNA: I’m David Welna at the Capitol.

Members of Congress were squeezed by both sides in the Armenian
dispute yesterday. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi invited Armenia’s top
prelate Karekin II to deliver the opening prayer on the House floor.

Catholicos KAREKIN II (Head, Holy Armenian Apostolic Church): With a
solemn burden of history, we remember the victims of the genocide of
the Armenians.

WELNA: Meanwhile, several members of Turkey’s parliament teamed up
with three high-powered Washington lobby firms hired by the Turkish
government trying to beat back support on Capitol Hill for the
genocide resolution.

Here’s Turkish MP Egemen Bagis.

Mr. EGEMEN BAGIS (Member of Parliament, Turkey): It’s not worth
passing a resolution, which might please the Armenian-Americans for a
few weeks, but it’s going to have a very negative binding effect on
Turkish-Armenian relations and Turkish-American relations for many
decades to come.

WELNA: Would that negative effect mean the U.S. losing its access to
Turkish airspace or supply routes to northern Iraq? Bagis said
Turkish authorities might not have a choice.

Mr. BAGIS: Turkey is a democracy, and in a democratic country public
pressure does matter. And if the public pressured us to do those
things, we will have to consider.

WELNA: A short time after these exchanges, the resolution was up for
a vote in the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Chairman Tom Lantos
warned fellow committee members they had a sobering choice to make.

Mr. TOM LANTOS (Chairman, House Committee on Foreign Affairs): We
have to weigh the desire to express our solidarity with the Armenian
people and to condemn this historic nightmare through the use of the
word genocide against the risk it could cause young men and women in
the uniform of the United States Armed Services to pay an even
heavier price than they are currently paying.

WELNA: Some members were clearly torn. Indiana Republican Mike Pence
said there is no question Armenians were victims of genocide. Still,
he said, he decided to oppose the resolution.

Representative MIKE PENCE (Republican, Indiana): With the American
troops in harm’s way, dependent on critical supply routes available
through an alliance that we enjoy with the nation of Turkey, I submit
that at this time, this is not the time for this nation to speak on
this dark chapter of history.

WELNA: Others question whether Congress should be lecturing Turkey.

Here’s New York Democrat Gregory Meeks.

Representative GREGORY MEEKS (Democrat, New York): We have got to
clean up our own house. I’ve got a bill that’s coming out, a
resolution I’m going to put out shortly. Working on it now. Talking
about the atrocities that took place of the Native Americans of this
land. I’ve yet to see us pass a resolution to talk about them.

WELNA: But California Democrat Brad Sherman did not share such
doubts.

Representative BRAD SHERMAN (Democrat, California): It is right for
Congress to recognize this genocide. We must do it. Genocide denial
is not just the last step of a genocide. It is the first step in the
next genocide. When Hitler had to convince his cohorts that the world
would let them get away with it, he turned to them and said, who
today speaks of the annihilation of the Armenians.

WELNA: The resolution passed 27 to 21. New Jersey Democrat Frank
Pallone acknowledged it had passed in committee by much larger
margins when members knew a Republican majority would not bring it to
the floor.

Representative FRANK PALLONE (Democrat, New Jersey): The reason that
this vote was closer was mainly because the opponents realized that
this is it. This is going to go to the floor.

WELNA: Democratic leaders say they expect a full House vote on the
resolution before Thanksgiving.

David Welna, NPR News, the Capitol.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress