CRITICAL WEEK
By Omer Taspinar

Turkish Press
March 1 2010

SABAH- Washington-Ankara relations are going to have a difficult week.

US House of Representatives is going to decide upon whether or
not a draft bill proposing the recognition of (so-called) Armenian
genocide should be brought to the agenda of the general assembly. The
expectations are for that the proposed bill will be sent to the general
assembly. Let’s remember: This draft bill is a kind of suggestion
to the White House. The draft asks Obama to recognize Armenian
genocide officially and to use this term explicitly on April 24. In
the last decade, many similar draft bills were asked to be sent to
the Congress. But, the White House and US Secretary of State were
able to prevent such a decision to be issued.

However, the process may be painful and dramatic as it was in 2007. At
that time, Ankara recalled its Ambassador to Washington to hold some
‘consultation.’ The Congress came under fire by the US press at the
time, with many accusing it of harming US interests.

The Obama government does not want to have such crisis with Turkey.

The government has already had many problems. For this reason,
the draft bill at the Congress is a kind of headache for both the
White House and the State Department. They’re well aware of the fact
that such a move won’t serve any purpose but obstruct the ongoing
normalization process between Turkey and Armenia. Last week, during
a hearing at the Congress, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
underlined the importance of continuing rapprochement process between
Turkey and Armenia, saying that any step that derail this process
should be avoided. Clinton said: "We’re working to help Turkey and
Armenia to succeed in this process and will continue to support this
process. We never want to spoil this process by taking such a step."

As a result, Obama government and the State Department know that
the draft bill pending at the Congress and its timing will fan the
nationalist weather in Turkey. The government will do its best to
prevent the Congress from accepting that bill. However, we should not
forget that the most important factor strengthening Armenian group’s
hand is that Turkey has frozen the protocols with Armenia. Armenians
in the US refrain form the normalization between Ankara and Yerevan.

That means, the real success is not to deactivate the draft bill
in the US Congress but to approve the rapprochement protocols in
Parliament as soon as possible.