PELOSI PUSHES FOR ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION DESPITE TURKISH ANGER

RTT News, NY
date=10/15/2007&item=5
Oct 15 2007

10/15/2007 2:54:42 AM Speaker of the US House of Representatives
Nancy Pelosi continued her crusade Sunday to get a resolution passed
calling the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World
War I genocide despite concerns raised by the White House that the
move had the potential of derailing their relationship with Turkey.

A congressional community had on Wednesday, approved the Armenian
resolution, sponsored by a California lawmaker whose district has a
large Armenian-American community.

"This resolution is one that is consistent with what our government
has always said about … what happened at that time," Pelosi said
on ABC’s "This Week."

Holding a vote on condemning the massacre, even many years after the
fact, is "about who we are as a country," Pelosi said adding "Genocide
still exists, and we saw it in Rwanda; we see it now in Darfur."

Pelosi dismissed possible reprisals affecting Turkey’s cooperation
with the US military, as "hypothetical" that would not derail the
resolution.

The measure will now be sent to the House of Representatives
by mid-November. President George Bush has strongly opposed the
resolution.

"We regret that Speaker Pelosi is intent on bringing this resolution
for a vote despite the strong concern expressed by foreign policy and
defense experts," White House spokesperson Tony Fratto said adding the
move "may do grave harm to US-Turkish relations and to US interests
in Europe and the Middle East."