RICE APPEALS CONGRESS TO DROP ARMENIA "GENOCIDE" BILL

Xinhua

Oct 24 2007
China

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) — U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice appealed to lawmakers on Wednesday to drop an Armenian "genocide"
resolution at current "delicate time with Turkey."

"This is a very delicate time with Turkey," Rice told the House of
Representatives Foreign Relations Committee, which voted two weeks
ago to label the Ottoman Empire’s World War I massacre of Armenians as
"genocide."

Noting "We have extremely important strategic interests with the
Turks," she said "I continue to believe that the passage of the …

Armenian genocide resolution would severely harm our relationships
with Turkey."

In addition to Rice, U.S. President George W. Bush has urged Congress
to drop the resolution.

"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," in places like Iraq, Bush said last week.

Armenians claim that more than 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a
systematic genocide in the hands of the Ottomans during World War I,
before modern Turkey was born in 1923.

But Turkey insists the Armenians are victims of widespread chaos and
governmental breakdown as the 600-year-old empire collapsed in the
years before 1923.

The Bush administration, attaching great importance to Turkey’s
participation in the war on terror, said that passing the "genocide"
bill would be "problematic for everything we’re trying to do in the
Middle East and would cause great harm to our efforts."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress