TURKEY VS. ARMENIA AND WHY IT MATTERS TO PRESIDENT OBAMA
Fox News
March 4 2010
The White House is asking Congress to drop legislation that labels
a massacre of Armenians by Turkish forces in 1915 as genocide, but
the House Foreign Affairs Committee is calling for a vote, despite
pressure that included a phone call from the United States top diplomat
Secretary of State Clinton to the chairman of the committee.
Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Representative Howard Berman (D-CA)
told the committee that even if the Turks as well as the United States
felt the resolution would have "terrible consequences" for U.S./Turkey
relations, he urged the members to vote in favor of the legislation.
"I believe the Turks, however deep their dismay today, fundamentally
agree that the U.S.-Turkish alliance is simply too important to
get sidetracked by a non-binding resolution passed by the House of
Representatives," Berman said in his opening remarks. "At some point,
every nation must come to terms with its own history. And that is
all we ask of Turkey."
The White House says President Obama, who supported the legislation
when he was a member of the Senate and running for President, has not
changed his position. "The President’s position on the events of 1915
is well known and his view of that history has not changed," National
Security Spokesman Mike Hammer said in a statement. "The President
spoke yesterday with President Gul and expressed appreciation for his
and Prime Minister Erdogan’s efforts on normalization of relations
between Turkey and Armenia, and pressed for rapid ratification of
the protocols."
The resolution on the Armenian genocide was also brought up under the
administration of President George W. Bush when the House tried to
pass the non-binding resolution in 2007. At the time, President Bush
ran into the same problem the Obama administration is now facing,
recognizing the genocide, but asking the House not to pass the
resolution so as to maintain good relations between the United States
and Turkey. The United States maintains the Incirlik military base
in Turkey which is used as a main hub for training missions for the
wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2008, then candidate Obama released a
statement saying he supported the Armenian Genocide Resolution and that
"as President I will recognize the Armenian genocide." However, that
statement may come back to haunt the current President who recently
has used softer language when asked about the use of his wording.
In April 2009 when Obama visited Turkey he was pointedly asked about
his 2008 remarks during a joint statement with Turkish President
Abdullah Gul. Obama danced around his previous comments, choosing
instead to focus on the future. "What I’d like to do is to encourage
President Gul to move forward with what have been some very fruitful
negotiations. And I’m not interested in the United States in any way
tilting these negotiations one way or another while they are having
useful discussions." Obama said.
And on the same trip, the President made sure to mention the genocide,
thought not by name, at an address to the Turkish Parliament, but asked
the two countries to work together going forward. "while there’s been
a good deal of commentary about my views, it’s really about how the
Turkish and Armenian people deal with the past," Obama said. "And the
best way forward for the Turkish and Armenian people is a process that
works through the past in a way that is honest, open and constructive."
Meanwhile, the legislation, even if it were to make it out of
committee, may not be destined for the floor. Nadeam Elshami, the
spokeswoman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who in the past
has been supportive of the bill, is saying it’s a process. "We’ll
look at this one step at a time," Elshami told Fox News.
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