Genocide Bill Seen As U.S. Pressure On Turkey In Yerevan
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05.03.2010
Tigran Avetisian, Irina Hovannisian

Washington did not prevent a U.S. congressional panel from approving
the Armenian genocide resolution on Thursday in order to press Turkey
to ratify its normalization agreements with Armenia, leading
pro-government politicians in Yerevan speculated on Friday.

Official Yerevan swiftly hailed the decision by the House Foreign
Affairs Committee as a `an important step toward the prevention of the
crimes against humanity.’ But senior representatives of Armenia’s two
largest governing parties saw other, more important factors were also
behind the development.

Razmik Zohrabian, a deputy chairman of President Serzh Sarkisian’s
Republican Party (HHK), said the U.S. administration is increasingly
frustrated with Ankara’s reluctance to unconditionally ratify the
Turkish-Armenian protocols. The administration hopes the prospect of
U.S. recognition of the Armenian genocide will make the Turks drop
their ratification preconditions, he said.

`I think those who voted for the resolution … also felt that they
should spur the Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process that has
stalled of late,’ agreed Aram Safarian, a senior lawmaker from the
Prosperous Armenia Party, the HHK’s junior coalition partner.

Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian service, Safarian claimed that the
Turkish government and parliament will increasingly understand the
need to take `practical steps towards the ratification of these
protocols’ in the weeks ahead. `Otherwise, U.S., European Union and
Russian sponsorship of the Turkish-Armenian dialogue prove to be a
waste of time,’ he said.

U.S. officials have repeatedly called on Ankara and Yerevan to
implement the agreements `without preconditions and within a
reasonable timeframe.’ The Armenian government has warned that it will
walk away from the deal if the Turks persist in linking protocol
ratification with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

`If Turkey’s parliament ratifies the protocols with reservations …
that will amount to the abrogation of the agreements,’ Zohrabian told
RFE/RL. `We will definitely not ratify them in that case.’

Aleksandr Arzumanian, a former foreign minister affiliated with the
main opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) also construed the
genocide bill’s approval as U.S. pressure on Ankara. But he said the
administration of President Barack Obama will prevent the bill from
reaching the House floor in any case.

`I’m sure they will use their administrative resources in full to keep
the [House] speaker from putting the bill to a House vote,’ Arzumanian
told RFE/RL.