U.S. State Department reaches understanding with Congress over
Genocide resolution

06.03.2010 12:10 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ U.S. Secretary of State made it clear that any
further congressional action will impede the normalization process
between Turkey and Armenia. `We continue to believe that the best way
for Turkey and Armenia is to address their shared past through their
ongoing effort to normalize relations,’ Philip J. Crowley, Assistant
Secretary of State said at the briefing, commenting the decision of
the U.S. State Department Committee on Foreign Affairs to adopt the
Armenian Genocide resolution 252.

‘The Secretary has talked to Hill officials and other officials. I
think they understand our position,’ he said.

Answering the question whether the State Department officials or
Administration officials were making clear to people on the Hill that
they didn’t want this to proceed for the last few weeks, Philip J.
Crowley particularly said,
`This is not an issue that has snuck up on anybody. This is an issue
that we’ve gone through a number of times in the past. The Secretary
made clear in a conversation with Chairman Berman earlier this week,
but other officials have been talking to congressional staff for some
time on this’. According to Philip J. Crowley, they have an
understanding with congressional leaders on this issue, but Congress
has a right to take action with its own body as it sees fit.

‘We have made clear to them the risk. I think in the statements that
various members made before the vote – I think they understood fully
that their – the risk of this vote and the impact it was going to have
in both political circles and in popular circles, particularly in
these two countries, ‘ the Assistant Secretary of State stressed.

`We continue to press Turkey and Armenia to move ahead with the
ratification of the protocols. We understand that this is difficult.
We understand that these issues evoke very strong emotional reactions
within both populations. That said, we think it is in everyone’s
interest to see this process continue to move forward, and we will
continue to press this case with these countries,’ Philip J. Crowley
concluded.

On March 4, US House Foreign Affairs Committee’s passed a resolution
recognizing and commemorating the Armenian Genocide. The resolution
was passed by a vote of 23-22.

The resolution affirming the U.S. record on the Armenian Genocide
(H.Res.252) was formally introduced in the U.S. House of
Representatives by Reps. Adam Schiff (D.-CA), George Radanovich
(R.-CA), Frank Pallone, Jr. (D.-NJ), and Mark Kirk (R.-Ill) in 2009.
It currently has 137 co-sponsors.