NBC News Transcripts
October 11, 2007 Thursday
SHOW: NBC Nightly News 6:30 PM EST NBC
Turkey upset over House condemning previous Turkish government’s
actions as genocide, could destabilize Iraq
ANCHORS: BRIAN WILLIAMS
REPORTERS: ANDREA MITCHELL
Overseas tonight, a critical American ally is up in arms–quite
literally–about something that happened yesterday on Capitol Hill,
and now the White House is warning that Turkey’s reaction to what
happened in Congress could further destabilize Iraq. To explain
what’s going on here, our chief foreign affairs correspondent, Andrea
Mitchell, is with us from our Washington newsroom tonight.
Andrea, good evening.
ANDREA MITCHELL reporting:
Good evening, Brian. What we’re talking about here is a nonbinding,
symbolic vote condemning a massacre of Armenians that took place
almost a century ago by a Turkish government that no longer exists.
So why is it triggering such concern? Well, because it is of huge
importance to Turkey, and that is a crucial US ally on the Iraq
border.
Today Turkish tanks massed along the Iraq border, Turkey says,
preparing to shut down bases used by Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.
Why invade now? Turkey is furious over that resolution calling its
1915 slaughter of Armenians genocide. Throughout Turkey today,
protests against the House committee vote. Angry headlines, and now
the government has recalled its ambassador from Washington.
Why does Turkey matter so much? It is the region’s largest Muslim
country and pro-American, home to critical US and NATO air bases, the
supply route for 70 percent of the military’s air cargo to Iraq,
including a third of its fuel. And although Muslim, a secret ally to
Israel. All critical support for the US that Turkey now threatens to
withdraw.
Mr. LOREN THOMPSON (Foreign Policy Analyst): It undercuts us with a
key ally when we’re in a rather desperate situation in Iraq.
THOMPSON: The president and his Cabinet have pleaded with Congress
with back down, but when he first ran in 2000, George Bush called the
massacre genocide and wrote Armenian-Americans that, "If elected
president, I would ensure that our nation properly recognizes the
tragic suffering of the Armenian people." The resolution comes up
every year and never passes. What’s changed? Nancy Pelosi is now
speaker, and her state of California has many Armenian-Americans.
Speaker of the House NANCY PELOSI: As long as there is genocide,
there is need to speak out against it.
THOMPSON: Even if this resolution passes the House, it could still be
stopped in the Senate, but that does not seem to be quieting the
anger in Turkey. Brian:
WILLIAMS: Andrea Mitchell in Washington for us tonight. Thanks.