TURKISH DELEGATION TO URGE US CONGRESS TO VOTE AGAINST ‘GENOCIDE’ BILL

Today’s Zaman
Feb 26 2010
Turkey

A delegation from the Turkish Parliament led by Foreign Affairs
Committee Chairman Murat Mercan will pay a visit to the US this
weekend to discourage the adoption of the so-called "Armenian
genocide" resolution on March 4, the PanARMENIAN news portal reported
on Thursday.

The Turkish delegation will reportedly meet with American congressmen
and other officials to urge them to vote against the Armenian genocide
resolution. The meetings are also intended to warn officials that
US-Turkish relations will be damaged if the resolution passes.

The last such crisis over the House of Representatives voting on
the "Armenian genocide" was in October 2007. Thanks to the Bush
administration and the American-Turkish community, the resolution
was taken off Congress’ agenda.

The resolution affirming "Armenian genocide" claims in the US Congress
now has 138 co-sponsors, and many congressmen support the resolution.

More than 30 states so far have already recognized the so-called
Armenian genocide. Analysts argue that the resolution will greatly
hurt the Turkish-Armenian protocols on normalization of relations
and establishing diplomatic ties.