ARMENIA PROPOSAL’S FATE UNCLEAR: PELOSIBY SUSAN CORNWELL

ABC News
Oct 17 2007

Share WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Prospects for a U.S. House of
Representatives resolution calling the 1915 massacre of Armenians
genocide looked dim on Wednesday as backers wavered on seeking a vote
and opponents predicted it would not pass.

Enthusiasm has eroded sharply since the resolution was approved by a
House committee last week. Both Republicans and Democrats are worried
about its impact on critical Iraq war ally Turkey, which provides
major logistic support to U.S. troops.

Turkey has warned it would damage relations with the United States.

President George W. Bush condemned the measure again on Wednesday
and chided Congress for "sorting out the historical record of the
Ottoman Empire" instead of attending to more pressing responsibilities.

"Whether it will come up or not, what the action will be, remains
to be seen," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, told
reporters on Wednesday. She had vowed it would get a vote of the full
chamber sometime this year.

Pelosi said she had always supported the nonbinding, largely symbolic
resolution, but she would be working with other advocates to see what
they wanted to do now.

"If it came to the floor today, it would not pass," Rep. John Murtha,
a Pennsylvania Democrat and Pelosi confidant who opposes the measure,
told reporters separately. He has urged Pelosi for months not to
bring it up for a vote.

Armenian-Americans have been pushing for passage of similar proposals
for years, and this resolution was proposed by a California Democrat
with many Armenian-Americans in his district, Rep. Adam Schiff.

But Turkey calls it insulting and rejects the Armenian position,
backed by many Western historians, that up to 1.5 million Armenians
suffered genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks during World War One.

After the Foreign Affairs Committee approved the resolution, Turkey
recalled its ambassador for consultations, and hinted it might halt
logistic support to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan if the bill
passed the House.

The United States is highly dependent on Turkey’s Incirlik air base.

About 70 percent of the U.S. military air cargo into Iraq transits
that base, according to the Defense Department.

"Congress has more important work to do than antagonizing a democratic
ally in the Muslim world, especially one that’s providing vital
support for our military every day," Bush said at a White House
news conference.

Ronald Reagan, a Californian, was the only U.S. president to publicly
call the killings genocide. Others avoided the term out of concern
for Turkey’s sensitivities — although Pelosi read a statement she
said Bush made as a presidential candidate, calling the massacres
"a genocidal campaign."

Last week the resolution enjoyed the co-sponsorship of more than half
the House, but lawmakers from both parties have been backing away in
recent days. Murtha said more than two dozen lawmakers came to his
office to discuss it this week.

While Murtha opposes the Iraq war, he said the United States needed
allies like Turkey.

"We don’t have the number of allies we used to have," he said at a
news conference with other Democrats asking Pelosi to drop plans for
the vote. "We’ve lost so much credibility worldwide … The coalition
of the willing, there’s nobody left."

Republican Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri said opponents in his party
were working with Democrats to ensure that if there were a vote,
it would fail.

At the State Department, where U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice and others have lobbied hard against the resolution, officials
welcomed growing opposition in Congress.

"They (lawmakers) have understood the potential for real problems and
consequences of our bilateral relationship with Turkey," said State
Department spokesman Tom Casey. He said Turkey’s government had so
far responded in a "very measured, appropriate way" to the resolution.

(Additional reporting by Sue Pleming, Richard Cowan and Andy Sullivan)