TURKISH DEPUTIES TO LOBBY IN US AGAINST ‘ARMENIAN GENOCIDE’ BILL

Hurriyet
Feb 26 2010
Turkey

Two groups of Turkish parliamentarians will visit Washington, D.C.,
to lobby against the "Armenian genocide" bill that will be voted on
by the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs on March 4.

Members of the Turkish Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee and the
Turkey-U.S. Parliamentary Friendship Group are expected to lobby in
the U.S. capital starting March 1.

Suat Kınıklıoglu, the ruling Justice and Development Party, or
AKP’s, vice president for foreign relations, described the upcoming
vote as "a misfortune" showing "lack of foresight" while the
normalization processes between Turkey and Armenia is still underway.

"The Armenian diaspora in the U.S. attempted [to pass this bill] in
2007, but failed. The bill was passed through the U.S. House Committee
on Foreign Affairs, but failed to pass in Congress," Kınıklıoglu
told reporters. "We are planning to prevent the bill’s ratification
by the committee. In case of failure, we will attempt [to lobby]
Congress to not vote for this bill."

The AKP official called the timing of the vote "absurd and
inappropriate" in regard to existing Turkey-U.S. relations. "We hope
our efforts will prevent this risky attempt, which may damage bilateral
relations," he said. "We act in unity as government, opposition and
NGOs in the U.S."