BACKERS SEE RISK IN VOTE ON GENOCIDE BILL
By Lisa Friedman, Staff Writer
Daily Breeze, CA
les/10760161.html
Oct 24 2007
Supporters worry it won’t pass but remain committed to measure that
would recognize deaths of 1.5 million Armenians.
WASHINGTON – Supporters of legislation declaring the massacre of
Armenians in Ottoman Turkey a genocide acknowledged Tuesday that they
are not confident the bill will pass if it is allowed to go to the
House floor.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, and Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks,
met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and said she remains steadfast
in her support for the bill.
But the criteria for bringing the resolution to the floor now comes
down to numbers: A vote will come, both said, if and when supporters
can be sure of victory.
"The speaker is personally committed to this," Schiff said. But,
he added, "We don’t want to ask her to bring this to the floor until
we’re confident it will be successful."
Added Sherman: "We cannot afford a risk of losing." And, he noted,
if the bill came to the floor today, "I couldn’t bet my house on what
would happen."
The resolution asserts that America should formally recognize that
1.5million Armenians were killed and displaced from what is now
modern-day Turkey from 1915 to 1923 in a systematic genocide.
Turkish officials acknowledge that Armenians were killed, but put
the number at 300,000 and bristle at the word "genocide."
They argue that Armenians joined forces with French and Russians in
the bloody aftermath of the war and also slaughtered Turks.
Turkey has threatened to cut off U.S. supply routes to Iraq if the
bill passes, and the Bush administration has been lobbying furiously
to prevent it from coming to the House floor.
Sherman on Tuesday said he believes Armenians have won even if the
bill stalls.
"What was the goal? The goal was to teach the world about the forgotten
genocide," he said.
"The method may not come to fruition," he said. But with newspapers
as far away as India reporting on the issue, he said, "By God, we
have achieved (the goal) beyond our wildest dreams."
Bryan Ardouny, executive director of the Armenian Assembly of America,
agreed that the raised awareness has helped. But he said the Armenian
community still expects passage.
"I think we will have a vote," Ardouny said. "At the end of the day,
this is about the American record, the American response to the first
genocide of the 20th century."