US CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE APPROVES ARMENIAN ‘GENOCIDE’ RESOLUTION

RTT News
March 4 2010

(RTTNews) – A US Congressional committee on Thursday approved a
resolution that described the massacre of Armenians by Turkish forces
during World War I as genocide, ignoring warnings from Turkey that
ties between the two countries would be hurt if the measure was passed.

The resolution was narrowly approved by the House Foreign Affairs
Committee in a 23 to 22 vote. The House Resolution 252 endorsed
Thursday urges U.S. President Barack Obama to ensure that his
administration’s future foreign policies reflects an understanding
of the Armenian "genocide."

The resolution, which was passed despite objections from the White
House, also calls for the labeling of the massacre of Armenians by
Turkish forces during World War I as "genocide" in President Obama’s
annual statement on the issue.

Soon after the endorsement of the resolution by the House Foreign
Affairs Committee, Turkey said it was recalling its ambassador from
Washington for consultations on the issue. Ankara also said in a
statement that it was condemning "this resolution which accuses the
Turkish nation of a crime it has not committed".

Turkey denies the occurrence of any genocide of Armenians during
World War I and insists that those killed were victims in the chaotic
collapse of the Ottoman empire, prior to the birth of modern Turkey
in 1923.

Armenia, however, welcomed the endorsement of the resolution,
describing the move as a "an important step towards the prevention
of crimes against humanity".

Ahead of Thursday’s vote on the resolution, committee chairman
Howard Berman had urged his fellow committee members to endorse the
non-binding resolution, notwithstanding warnings from Turkey and the
White House.

"I believe that Turkey values its relationship with the United States
at least as much as we value our relations with Turkey," Berman said,
adding that Turkey "fundamentally agree that the US-Turkish alliance
is simply too important to get side-tracked by a non-binding resolution
passed by the House of Representatives."

Following the approval of the measure by the House Committee, it will
now be put to vote in the full House. This, however, is not the first
time that a similar resolution on the issue has passed the committee
stage. The Foreign Affairs Committee approved a similar genocide
measure in 2007, but was shelved ahead of a House vote following
intensive pressure from the George W Bush administration.

Thursday’s vote on the non-binding resolution by the House Committee
came despite calls from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to put the
agenda on hold as the move could derail the ongoing reconciliation
talks between Turkey and Armenia.

Turkey and Armenia have not had any diplomatic or economic relations
after Armenia declared its independence in 1991. In addition, Turkey
also closed its borders with Armenia in 1993 as a token of support
for Azerbaijan, which has a territorial conflict with Armenia.

The development comes almost a year after Turkey and Armenia had
announced last April of having reached a historic deal that would
normalize relations between the two sides. Though the deal has strong
backing of the international community, it is currently on the brink
of collapse as both Turkey and Armenia are yet to ratify the agreement.

Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan has insisted that his country’s
parliament would approve the deal only after Turkey ratifies
the agreement. He also warned that Armenia could break off its
normalization efforts if Turkey delayed the ratification of the
protocols.

One of the hurdles to Turkey’s ratification of the agreement sprung
up recently after Armenia’s Constitutional Court ruled on 12th
January said the deal with Turkey should not breach the country’s
Independence Declaration, which states that the Republic of Armenia
"stands in support of the task of achieving international recognition
of the Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey and Western Armenia."

Turkey objected to the Armenian Constitutional Court ruling, insisting
that the ruling was based on "preconditions and restrictive findings"
that undermine the "fundamental objectives" of the protocols. Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the court ruling as
"unacceptable" and has said it could undermine the reconciliation
efforts between the two countries.

Turkey’s parliament initially delayed ratifying the protocols, as it
linked the establishment of diplomatic relations to negotiations on the
Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. Armenian troops are currently occupying the
enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh after they helped Armenian separatists to
seize control of the enclave from Azerbaijan, a close ally of Turkey,
in the early 1990s.

Turkey has demanded that the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave conflict be
resolved through international meditations and has kept the withdrawal
of Armenian forces from the enclave as a condition for ratifying
the agreement.

by RTT Staff Writer

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress