THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: ANKARA RECALLS AMBASSADOR AFTER U.S. PANEL CONDEMNS 1915 GENOCIDE OF ARMENIANS

ArmInfo
2010-03-05 09:02:00

ArmInfo. A U.S. congressional committee approved a resolution
condemning the 1915 slaughter of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire
as genocide, rejecting a last-minute Obama administration effort
to derail it and putting a chill on relations with Turkey, the Wall
Street Journal reported.

The House panel’s resolution, approved on a 23-22 vote, faces an
uncertain future in Congress. But it nonetheless could damage U.S.

relations with Turkey, a vital ally in the Middle East and Central
Asia. Within minutes of the vote, Ankara said it was recalling its
ambassador from Washington for consultations. Turkey took the same
step in 2007, when the committee passed a similar resolution.

WSJO quotes Huseyin Bagci, professor of international relations at
the Middle East Technical University in Ankara as saying: "We can
now declare the rapprochement with Armenia dead, the border cannot
open now." He predicted anti-Americanism in Turkey, already strong in
recent years, would rise, and that the vote would be seen in Turkey as
a failure of the government’s foreign policy. Turkey’s small Armenian
community was subdued. "We live with Turks, and Turkey is changing
for the first time in one hundred years," said Etyen Mahcupyan,
editor in chief of Agos, a bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper. His
predecessor, Hrant Dink, was assassinated by a Turkish nationalist in
2007. "Of course 1915 is hugely important to us, but not what the U.S.

Congress calls it." The vote on the resolution aroused concern of a
number of big American companies engaged in the defense sphere and
cooperating with Turkey. Among those companies are – Lockheed Martin
Corp., Boeing Co., Raytheon Co., United Technologies Corp. and Northrop
Grumman Corp.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called House Foreign Affairs
Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D., Calif.) on Wednesday and
"indicated that further congressional action could impede progress
on normalization of relations" between Turkey and Armenia, a White
House spokesman said. That undermined a campaign pledge from then-Sen.

Barack Obama, who said in January 2008 that "as president I will
recognize the Armenian genocide." The White House spokesman, Mike
Hammer, added Thursday that "the president’s position on the events
of 1915 is well known and his view of that history has not changed."

Until Wednesday, the Obama administration had taken a hands-
off approach to the vote. That stood in contrast to the Bush and
Clinton administrations, which openly opposed the resolution on the
long-running genocide issue. Mr. Obama on Wednesday called Turkish
President Abdullah Gul to thank him for his country’s efforts to
normalize relations with Armenia and pressed for rapid ratification
of border-opening protocols, the White House said.