Irish Examiner
October 12, 2007 Friday

Turkey condemns approval of bill’s genocide claim

The House Committee on Foreign Affairs passed the bill despite
intense lobbying by Turkish officials and opposition from President
George W Bush.

The vote was a triumph for well-organised Armenian-American interest
groups that have lobbied Congress for decades.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates reiterated his opposition to the
resolution, saying the measure could hurt relations at a time when US
forces in Iraq rely heavily on Turkish permission to use their
airspace for US air cargo flights.

Relations are already strained by accusations that the US is
unwilling to help Turkey fight Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq.

About 70% of US air cargo headed for Iraq goes through Turkey, as
does about a third of the fuel used by the US military in Iraq. US
bases also get water and other supplies by land from Turkish truckers
who cross into the northern region of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Historians estimate up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by
Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed
by scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century.

Turkey, however, denies the deaths constituted genocide, saying the
toll has been inflated and those killed were victims of civil war and
unrest.

"It is not possible to accept such an accusation of a crime which was
never committed by the Turkish nation," the Turkish government said
yesterday.

"It is blatantly obvious the House Committee on Foreign Affairs does
not have a task or function to rewrite history by distorting a matter
which specifically concerns the common history of Turks and
Armenians."

Armenian President Robert Kocharian has welcomed the vote, saying:
"We hope this process will lead to a full recognition by the United
States of America… of the genocide."

Speaking to reporters yesterday after meeting European Union foreign
policy chief Javier Solana, Mr Kocharian also appealed to Turkey to
join talks on restoring bilateral relations.

Turkey is under no pressure from the EU to call the Armenian killings
genocide.

The European Commission criticised France last year for making it a
crime to deny the killings were genocide, calling the bill
counterproductive during a critical stage in Turkey’s EU entry talks.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress