LAWMAKERS DELAY PUSH FOR HOUSE VOTE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MEASURE
By Richard Simon, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Los Angeles Times, CA
Oct 25 2007
WASHINGTON — Sponsors of a congressional resolution to recognize the
Armenian genocide said today that they would delay their drive to bring
the measure before the House for a vote, amid waning support for the
measure sparked by concerns that it could harm relations with Turkey,
a key U.S. ally.
The decision represents a swift reversal for the controversial
resolution, which only weeks ago appeared certain to pass the House.
The resolution’s chief sponsors said in a letter today to House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) that they would still press
for passage of the long-debated measure.
"We believe that a large majority of our colleagues want to support a
resolution recognizing the genocide on the House floor and that they
will do so, provided the timing is more favorable," the sponsors,
Reps. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks),
Anna G. Eshoo (D-Menlo Park) and Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) said in
the letter.
Supporters of the resolution, recently approved by the House Foreign
Affairs Committee, once counted more than half the members of the House
as sponsors. But many representatives have since withdrawn support,
raising doubts about whether it would pass.
The resolution has been strongly opposed by the Bush administration,
which warned it could offend Turkey. After the committee vote,
the administration and Turkey, aided by high-paid, well-connected
lobbyists, stepped up their efforts to persuade the House to shelve
the measure, which calls on the president to "accurately characterize
the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000 Armenians
as genocide."
Turkey withdrew its ambassador in protest, and its top general said
House passage of the resolution would rupture U.S. relations with
one of its most reliable allies in the Islamic world. U.S. military
supplies for the war in Iraq pass through a critical air base in
Turkey.
At the same time, deadly cross-border raids by Kurdish rebels into
Turkey have inflamed public opinion in the country, which has accused
the U.S. and Iraq of not doing enough to prevent the attacks. The
Turkish parliament overwhelmingly granted the government permission
to invade northern Iraq to pursue Kurdish insurgents.
Kurdish rebels ambushed a Turkish army patrol Sunday, killing at
least 12 soldiers and raising the possibility of a Turkish incursion,
which could destabilize the safest region in Iraq.
The resolution’s sponsors said they would continue to work for
consideration of the measure "sometime later this year, or in 2008."