WHITE HOUSE AGAIN PRESSES CONGRESS ON ARMENIA

Agence France Presse
Oct 15 2007

ROGERS, United States (AFP) – The White House Monday strongly
discouraged Congress from approving, or even considering, a resolution
calling WWI mass killings of Armenians "genocide" which could bring
tough reprisals from Turkey.

"This is an important time for US-Turkish relations, and we would
strongly encourage the speaker not to bring this to a vote, and should
it come to a vote, we will strongly encourage members not to support
it," spokesman Tony Fratto said.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday said she planned to put the bill
before the full House of Representatives. The House foreign affairs
committee last week branded the Ottoman Empire’s World War I massacre
of Armenians a genocide, angering Ankara.

Pelosi said Bush never had phoned her on the measure.

"I don’t know anything about plans for a phone call. But there should
be no question of the president’s views on this issue and the damage
that this resolution can do to our US foreign policy interests,"
added Fratto, aboard the president’s jet.

Armenians say at least 1.5 million of their people were killed from
1915 to 1917 under what they describe as an campaign of deportation
and murder by the Ottoman Empire. Turkey bitterly disputes the number
of dead and the characterization of the killings as a genocide.

Ankara’s angry reaction has fueled fears within the US administration
that it could lose access to a military base in Turkey, a NATO ally,
which provides a crucial staging ground for US supplies headed to
Iraq and Afghanistan.