The Associated Press
October 19, 2007 Friday 6:16 PM GMT
>From afar, Armenians closely watch maneuvering in U.S. Congress over
genocide resolution
By AVET DEMOURIAN, Associated Press Writer
The chatter these days in Yerevan’s Anahit Deluxe beauty salon isn’t
only about hairstyles, celebrity gossip or the coming winter it’s
also about whether the U.S. Congress will agree that the World War
I-era killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks was genocide.
"If it passes, I’ll treat all my girlfriends and customers that day
to candy," said the salon’s owner, Anait Gezalian.
Thousands of miles from Washington, U.S. House Resolution No. 106 is
the talk of the town for Yerevan and the rest of this landlocked
former Soviet republic of rugged highlands and grinding poverty.
If Congress recognizes the killings as genocide, it could be a
cathartic moment for Armenians. They have striven for decades to gain
wide international recognition for their view of the long-ago
bloodshed, creating a dispute that has poisoned relations with modern
Turkey.
Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by
Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I. Scholars view it as the
first genocide of the 20th century, but Turkey says that the toll has
been inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war and
unrest.
Jubilation followed the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s approval of
the resolution Oct. 10, with Armenian lawmakers giving a standing
ovation to their American counterparts and a pro-government newspaper
declaring in a headline: "Historical Justice is Restored."
Sentiments have sobered since, as the fate of the resolution is now
in question.
Turkey, a U.S. ally and NATO member, recalled its ambassador from
Washington for consultations in protest, warning the U.S. of serious
damage to relations and complications for the U.S. military operation
in Iraq. The Bush administration opposes the resolution, and House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday that prospects for a House vote
were now uncertain.
In Yerevan, where a slow construction boom is bringing Western
stores, flashy nightclubs and upscale restaurants to a run-down city,
Armenians are closely watching events unfold through television and
newspaper reports, on the Internet and with the help of the more than
1 million-strong diaspora in the United States.
"The Fate of the Resolution is Uncertain," one newspaper declared.
"Congressmen regret that they voted for the resolution," another
reported. Another publishes a running tally of U.S. lawmakers, pro
and con.
"How much longer can Turkey … blackmail Washington, plot demarche,
threaten worse relations, frighten and so on?" asked Karen
Vartazarian, a 28-year-old Web designer.
"We’re convinced that the House of Representatives will make the
right decision and will not abandon the democratic values the United
States was founded on," said Arpi Vartanian, regional director of the
Armenian Assembly of America, an advocacy group.
Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian went to Washington on Thursday for
World Bank and other meetings. He also met with Defense Secretary
Robert Gates, though Gates told reporters later that the genocide
resolution was not discussed.
Some Armenians fear the resolution could cause trouble for Armenians
living in Turkey, or the thousands who try to make a living by going
there to buy goods for resale back home.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 during a war between
Armenia and Azerbaijan, a Muslim ally of the Turks, and maintains a
virtual blockade that has all but crippled Armenia’s economy, which
relies heavily on investment and support from Armenians abroad.
After years of disappointment, suffering and isolation, many
Armenians are not counting on a vote by Congress.
"So many times has recognition of the genocide been promised and so
many times (the promise) hasn’t been fulfilled. (But) one can live
through this," said Artem Yerkanian, a commentator on the state-run
channel Shant.