WHITE HOUSE ATTEMPTS TO BLOCK HOUSE VOTE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.10.2007 14:52 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The White House expressed regret over the intention
of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to bring the Armenian Genocide
Resolution, H.Res.106, to the full House floor.

It will not improve the American-Turkish relations.

Neither will it promote the Armenian-Turkish reconciliation, the Bush
administration said.

"We regret over the intention of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to bring
the resolution to the full House floor despite concerns expressed
by our foreign policy and defense experts and a bipartisan group of
former Secretaries of State as well as our Turkish allies," White House
Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto told reporters in Crawford, Texas.

"We oppose the resolution which can badly damage the American-Turkish
relations and U.S. interests in Europe and Middle East," he said.

Yesterday evening, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
the third-highest elected official in the United States, announced
intention to bring to the House floor the non-binding resolution
approved by the Committee on Foreign Affairs last Wednesday despite
Bush administration’s opposition.

"I said if the resolution passed the Committee that we would bring
it to the floor," Pelosi said on ABC’s This Week program. "Genocide
still exists. We saw it in Rwanda and we see it in Darfur today."

Presently, the Bush administration attempts to block the anti-Turkish
resolution. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pledged to take
action during phone conversations with the Turkish Prime Minister,
President and Foreign Minister. She also called on the Turkish
government to refrain from military operations in Northern Iraq,
ITAR-TASS reports.