GENOCIDE BILL STRAINS TURKEY-US TIES
Islam Online
March 5 2010
"Turkey will not be responsible for the negative ramifications that
this vote may have in every field," Gul said. (Reuters)
WASHINGTON – Turkey and the United States headed into a clash Friday,
March 5, over a House panel bill branding the killings of Armenians
by Ottoman forces during World War I as "genocide".
"We condemn this resolution which accuses the Turkish nation of a
crime it has not committed," said a Turkish government statement
cited by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"Following this development, our ambassador to Washington, Namik Tan,
was recalled to Ankara for consultations."
By a 23-22 vote, the House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs
Committee narrowly passed Thursday the bill describing the Armenian
killings as "genocide".
The non-binding resolution calls on President Barak Obama to ensure
that US foreign policy reflects an understanding of the Armenian
"genocide".
"We are seriously concerned that this bill… will harm Turkish-US
relations and impede efforts aimed at normalising Turkish-Armenian
ties."
Turkey is a prominent Muslim partner of Washington in efforts to
stabilise Afghanistan and Iraq.
It is also a key route in major projects to carry oil and natural
gas to Western markets.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their people were systematically
killed by Ottoman Turks between 1915 and 1917 as their empire fell
apart.
Turkey rejects the genocide label and argues that 300,000-500,000
Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when
Armenians took up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia and sided
with the invading Russian troops.
The US has traditionally condemned the 1915-1918 killings, but
refrained from calling them a "genocide," anxious not to strain
relations with Turkey.
Ankara recalled its envoy from Washington in 2007 when a congressional
committee passed a similar text.
But then-president George W. Bush stopped the resolution from going
to the full House, wary over reports that Ankara would block US access
to a key airbase essential for Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Blow
Ankara warned that the House bill would deal a blow to efforts to
end decades of hostility between Turkey and Armenia.
"Turkey will not be responsible for the negative ramifications that
this vote may have in every field," President Abdullah Gul said.
Following US-backed bridge-building talks, Turkey and Armenia signed
a deal in October to establish diplomatic relations and open their
border.
But the process has already hit the rocks, with Ankara accusing Yerevan
of trying to tweak the terms of the deal and Yerevan charging that
Ankara is not committed to ratifying the accord.
The Obama administration had tried to urge the House committee not
to press ahead with the genocide vote.
"We do not believe the full Congress will or should act on that
resolution," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters in
Costa Rica.
Obama pledged during his presidential campaign that he would recognize
the events as genocide.
"The circumstances have changed in very significant ways," Clinton,
who also vowed to brand the killings as genocide during her failed
presidential bid, said.
She said that it became clear after the administration took office
that the reconciliation process was a "very worthy one that we intended
to support.
"I do not think it is for any other country to determine how two
countries resolve matters between them to the extent that actions
that the United States might take could disrupt this process."
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