TANNER LEADS OPPOSITION TO VOTE ON ARMENIAN ISSUE
By Bartholomew Sullivan

commercialappeal.com , TN
Oct 17 2007

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. John Tanner, D-Tenn., has taken the lead asking
the Democratic House leadership not to bring a resolution condemning
the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923 to a floor vote.

In a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny H.

Hoyer, Tanner and U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., wrote that the
resolution would inflame relations with Turkey at a time the NATO
member and ally in the Iraq war is critically needed.

"Enactment of (the resolution), which is directed at action of the
Ottoman Empire, would have serious consequences for the United States’
important relationship with modern-day Turkey, a strong NATO ally;
and threaten our operations and our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan,"
they wrote.

Tanner is chairman of the House delegation to the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization Parliamentary Assembly.

President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and every living
Secretary of State since the Ford administration have asked Congress
to drop the resolution, citing the harm it would do to American-Turkish
relations.

Tanner, whose district includes parts of Millington, Frayser and all
of Tipton County; U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., whose district
includes parts of eastern Shelby County; and U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen,
D-Tenn., whose district is Memphis, were never sponsors of the
measure. Turkey is the honored country in next year’s Memphis in
May events.

Until recently, the resolution had 225 co-sponsors. Of the 21
congressmen who have withdrawn their support in recent days, two are
from the Greater Memphis area: U.S. Rep. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., whose
district includes DeSoto and Marshall counties; and U.S. Rep. Marion
Berry, D-Ark., whose district includes Crittenden and Mississippi
counties.

The resolution was expected to go to a vote sometime this week,
but Hoyer is now saying he wants to get a floor vote before Congress
adjourns for the year.

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