CBC Canada
March 5 2010

Turkey warns U.S. against genocide vote

Last Updated: Friday, March 5, 2010 | 7:40 AM ET
CBC News

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said a U.S. congressional
committee’s declaration that the First World War-era killing of
Armenians was genocide could hurt ties between Turkey and the U.S.
(Burhan Ozbilici/Associated Press)
Turkey’s foreign minister warned the Obama administration on Friday of
negative diplomatic consequences if it does not do more to block a
U.S. resolution branding the World War I-era killing of Armenians as
genocide.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey would assess what
measures it would take should a resolution approved Thursday pass in
the U.S. House of Representatives.

"We expect the U.S. administration to, as of now, display more
effective efforts. Otherwise the picture ahead will not be a positive
one," Davutoglu told reporters.

The U.S. foreign affairs committee panel approved the resolution
declaring the Ottoman-era killing of Armenians genocide with a 23-22
vote. The resolution is now set to go before the full House.

Obama has urged the congressional panel not to approve the resolution,
saying he did not want to upset promising talks between Turkey and
Armenia on improving relations and opening their border.

Turkey also remains a key Muslim ally for the United States in the
Middle East, and Washington was expected to press Turkey to support
sanctions against Iran to be approved by the UN Security Council,
where Turkey holds a seat.

Canada recognized genocide in 2004
Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by
Ottoman Turks in 1915 at the end of the First World War.

The deaths are widely viewed by genocide scholars as the first
genocide of the 20th century. But Turkey denies that the deaths
constituted genocide and contends the toll has been inflated and the
casualties were victims of civil war and unrest.

Canada recognized the deaths as genocide in 2004, after Parliament
voted 153-68 to adopt a Bloc Québécois motion that condemned the act
as "a crime against humanity."

Twice since then, Turkey has recalled its ambassador to Canada in
response to what it viewed as overt shows of support for the branding
of the event as a genocide, most recently in April last year after
Canadian officials reportedly attended an event in Ottawa organized to
mark the fifth anniversary of parliament recognizing the 1915 killings
as genocide.

Canadian officials have repeatedly stated, however, that the country’s
position on the mass deaths of Armenians more than 90 years ago was
not an indictment of modern Turkey.

The U.S. foreign affairs committee approved a similar genocide measure
in 2007, but the House chose not to vote on it after facing pressure
by top officials in the administration of then President George W.
Bush.

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