ARMENIANS WELCOME U.S. RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING GENOCIDE BY TURKS

RIA Novosti
March 5, 2010
YEREVAN

Armenian groups in the United States rejoiced as the U.S. House
Foreign Affairs Committee narrowly approved a resolution condemning as
genocide the mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during
World War I.

The Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives
voted on Thursday 23-22 in support of the resolution following almost
six hours of heated debates.

Ankara responded by recalling its newly appointed ambassador to the
United States, Namik Tan, for "consultations."

"We condemn this bill that blames the Turkish nation for a crime
it did not commit. Our Washington ambassador was invited to Ankara
tonight for consultations," Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan
said in a statement posted on his office’s website.

Turkey, which has always refused to recognize the killings of an
estimated 1.5 million Armenians at the end of the Ottoman period
in 1915 as an act of genocide, earlier warned Washington that this
move could jeopardize U.S-Turkish cooperation and set back the talks
aimed at opening the border between Turkey and Armenia, which has
been closed since 1993 on Ankara’s initiative.

A similar vote in the committee was approved by a wider margin in
2007, but the U.S. Bush administration, anxious to retain Turkish
cooperation in Iraq, scuttled a full House vote.

"By a vote of 23 to 22 the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee
approved [House Resolution] 252, the Armenian Genocide Resolution,"
the Armenian Assembly of America (AAA) said in a statement.

"The committee passed the motion despite a well-funded lobbying effort
by the Turkish government supported by major defense corporations
doing business with Turkey. Parliamentarians from Turkey and Turkey’s
ambassador to the United States personally weighed in on the committee
and the Obama Administration."

"The truth prevailed today, and the cause of genocide affirmation
and prevention has been furthered," AAA Executive Director Bryan
Ardouny said.

"We commend the leadership of Chairman Howard Berman and all those who
supported the bill’s passage, which was introduced by Representatives
Adam Schiff (D-CA), George Radanovich (R-CA), Frank Pallone, Jr.

(D-NJ) and Mark Kirk (R-IL)."

"The truth prevailed in the end," Elizabeth Chouldjian, a spokeswoman
for the Armenian National Committee of America, told Armenian
television. "The Turkish pressure proved futile."

The resolution was also welcomed by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian.

"We highly appreciate the decision by the Committee on Foreign Affairs
of the United States House of Representatives to adopt Resolution 252
on the recognition of the Armenian genocide," he said in a statement.

"This is further proof of the devotion of the American people to
universal human values and is an important step toward the prevention
of crimes against humanity."

On the eve of the vote, the Obama administration urged the committee
not to approve the resolution, fearing it could alienate Washington’s
NATO ally, whose help the White House considers invaluable in solving
confrontations in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

A number of countries have recognized the killings in Armenia as the
first genocide of the 20th century, including Russia, France, Italy,
Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Greece, as well as 42 of the
50 U.S. states. The Vatican, the European Parliament and the World
Council of Churches have also denounced the killings as genocide.

Uruguay was the first to do so in 1965.