Democracy Now
March 5 2010

House Panel Votes to Recognize Armenian Genocide

In other news from Washington, the House Foreign Affairs Committee has
approved a non-binding resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide.
Turkey has long opposed passage of such a measure, which refers to the
World War I-era massacre of Armenians by Turkish troops. Republican
lawmaker Dan Burton of Indiana opposed the measure, saying it would
alienate an important Mideast ally.

Rep. Dan Burton: `We have sympathy for the people that suffered during
that time. We understand tragedies occurred. We understand horrible
atrocities occurred. There’s no question about that. But we’re in the
twenty-first century. We have troops in the field, and we run the risk
of losing a base of operation¦in Turkey.’

After the vote, Turkey announced it would recall its US ambassador in
protest. Meanwhile, Armenian National Committee chair Kenneth
Hachikian praised the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Kenneth Hachikian: `We’re very gratified that the House Foreign
Affairs Committee chose to prevent Turkey from imposing a gag rule on
US foreign policy and decided to stand up for truth and justice and to
bring forward the truth of the Armenian genocide. Clearly the members
of the committee were under incredible pressure from the Turkish
government, and even as late as last night apparently from the
administration, to not do this, and so we applaud the bipartisan
endorsement of what occurred, and we look forward to moving this
forward on the House floor.’

Although many progressives have long called for recognizing the
Armenian genocide, there’s been speculation around the motives for the
vote. Critics say lawmakers strongly backing the Israeli government
are punishing Turkey for its opposition to the Israeli assault on and
blockade of the Gaza Strip.

ines/house_panel_votes_to_recognize_armenian_genoc ide