TURKISH DEPUTIES TO LOBBY AGAINST ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

Asbarez
lobby-against-armenian-genocide-resolution/
Feb 26th, 2010

ANKARA (Hurriyet)-Two groups of Turkish parliamentarians will visit
Washington, D.C., to lobby against a House Resolution recognizing
the Armenian Genocide to 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 Kiniklioglu, the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP)
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,"
Kiniklioglu 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."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress