WAR OF LOBBIES IN THE US CONGRESS
Lena Badeyan

"Radiolur"
05.03.2010 14:56

What happened in the Foreign Relations Committee yesterday was a war
of lobbies, which showed the dangers the Armenian-Turkish protocols
include, member of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun Bureau, MP Armen Rustamyan
told a press conference today. He recalled the speeches of the
Congressmen, who opposed the bill, saying they didn’t want to hinder
the normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations.

The MP did not exclude that the method of "money" came to supplement
the method of "persuading" in the war of lobbies, and here the
opportuntities of Armenia and Turkey are uncomparable.

Another interesting fact is related to the voting. At the decisive
moment, when the con votes were prevailing, the Armenian lobby
made great efforts to ensure the necessary votes of the last four
Congressmen, Armen Rustamyan said.

Another similar struggle is expected on March 11 in the Swedish
Parliament. The Social-Democrats back the Armenian Genocide bill there.

"We are not only negotiating with the Swedish party. We have already
had preliminary meetings. I personally met their representative in
Prague. The Social-Democratic Party has a decision connected with the
adoption of the bill condemning the Armenian Genocide and they were
interested in some details. We provided them with necessary materials.

Thus, we are attentively following the process, and we’ll do all that
depends on us to have the bill pass. The same struggle is expected
there. Turks also have their levers of pressure there, and the same
struggle will move to the Swedish Parliament in a few days," Armen
Rustamyan said.