LEV MAKEDONOV: GENOCIDE OF FRIENDSHIP

Aysor
Feb 8 2010
Armenia

The United States may probably recognize the 1915 mass killings of
Armenian population in Turkey as the Genocide. Despite the fact that
Turkey is one of the key allies for the White House, the hearing on
Armenian Genocide will be launched soon in March posing risks to the
U.S.-Turkey relations.

Below is Lev Makedonov’s article "Genocide of Friendship", published
by Russia’s Gazeta on-line paper.

The U.S. congressmen are going to discuss the Resolution on Genocide –
mass killings of Armenian population in Turkey in 1915s. Chairman of
the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, Howard L. Berman, announced
that was is his intention to mark up the Armenian Genocide resolution
on March 4.

"We want to thank Howard Berman for taking this step to send a message
to Turkey that the United States won’t be involved in denying the
truth and justifying the genocide against Armenians," said in the
statement by the Armenian National Committee of America.

The lower chamber of the U.S. Congress several times tried to adopt
a symbolic resolution in support of Armenians: this was in 2000,
2005 and 2007. Neither at Bill Clinton’s times nor Jr. George Bush’s
Administration made up their minds to alienate relations with Turkey
which always was the White House’s key ally in the Middle East. Votes
on Resolution were failing every time.

The currently-sitting President Barack Obama during his presidential
campaign gave his word to recognize the 1915 Genocide against
Armenians. Key players — Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton supported this step promoting appropriate bills
in the upper chamber. However, the White House never returned to this
issue after ceremony of inauguration.

Currently, 135 congressmen out of 435 and 13 Deputies in the upper
chamber voted for the Resolution. Besides, number of Resolution’s
opposers decreased as Robert Wexler, who chaired group of Turkish-born
American congressmen, and his colleagues John Tanner and Marion Berry
have left the lower chamber.

Resolution on Recognition of the Genocide once nearly exacerbated
relations between the U.S. and Turkey when in 2007 it was adopted
by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Turkey then called back
its Ambassador to the United States to hold some consultations and
said would take strong measure against the States up to closing its
airspace. The resolution came to nought, and the conflict was resolved.

Mass killings of Armenian population in Turkey in 1915s, which left
nearly 2 million Armenians dead, are recognized as Genocide in many
states and by many nations and organisations — firstly, by government
of Uruguay in 1965, and now by most of the EU nations, including
Germany, France, and Italy. Many countries, like Belgium, France and
Switzerland, also have broader laws that criminalize genocide denial.