Morning Star
October 19, 2007 Friday

World – US Speaker retreats on recognition of Armenian genocide

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi retreated on
Thursday over a vote to recognise the Armenian genocide after several
members withdrew their support for the proposed resolution because of
fears that it would cripple US relations with Turkey.

"Whether it will come up or not, or what the action will be, remains
to be seen," equivocated Ms Pelosi, who controls the House’s agenda.

Both she and the House majority leader had pledged earlier that, if
the resolution cleared the foreign affairs committee, the full house
would vote on it by the end of the year.

The proposal, which would label as genocide the killing of Armenians
a century ago by Ottoman Turks, has inflamed US tensions with Turkey,
which insists that the death toll has been inflated and the Armenians
died during civil unrest, not organised genocide.

Support for the resolution deteriorated this week after Turkey
summoned its US ambassador to Ankara and several politicians spoke
out against it.

Representative John Murtha, a senior Democrat who is considered
influential on military affairs, said that his party’s leaders had
miscalculated support for the resolution. He predicted that such a
vote would fail easily.

"If it came to the floor today, it would not pass," with some 55 to
60 Democrats opposing the measure, said Mr Murtha.