RTT News
March 5 2010

US-Turkey Ties "Under Threat" Over House Committee Passing Armenian
‘Genocide’ Resolution
3/5/2010 8:09 AM ET

(RTTNews) – U.S. Congressional committee’s passage of resolution
describing as genocide the killings of Armenians by Turkish forces
during World War I has evoked strong reaction from Turkey, which
recalled its Ambassador to Washington.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that the
resolution would harm Turkish-U.S. relations, saying that his country
had been accused of a crime it did not commit.

Parliament Speaker Mehmet Ali Sahin called on the U.S. Friday to
correct a "historical mistake soon."

The House Foreign Affairs Committee voted 23-22 on Thursday in favor
of the non-binding resolution despite Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton’s call to put the agenda on hold as the move could derail the
ongoing reconciliation talks between Turkey and Armenia.

"We do not believe that the full Congress will or should act upon that
resolution, and we have made that clear to all the parties involved,"
she added.

Clinton was responding to Erdogan’s call not to go forward with the
resolution at a time "Turkish-US relations are experiencing their most
successful period in history." He also warned that such an initiative
could harm an already endangered reconciliation process between Turkey
and Armenia.

However, Armenia welcomed the outcome, calling it "an important step
towards the prevention of crimes against humanity." Armenians contend
that up to 1.5 million of their people were systematically killed by
the Ottoman Turks during World War I.

More than 20 countries have recognized the killings as "genocide."

The Turkish government, a key American ally and fellow NATO member,
has long denied the genocide claim saying the number of Armenians
killed is much lower and that they were victims in the chaotic
collapse of the Ottoman empire prior to the birth of modern Turkey in
1923.

A statement issued by the Turkish Prime Minister’s office immediately
after the vote said it "condemn this resolution accusing Turkey of a
crime that it had not committed."

It added that Turkey’s Ambassador to Washington Namik Tan was
"recalled tonight to Ankara for consultations after the development."

President Abdullah Gul described the panel’s vote as "an injustice to
history." He warned that "Turkey will not be responsible for the
negative results that this event may lead to."

The non-binding resolution calls on U.S. policy and President Barack
Obama to formally refer to the World War I mass killings as a
"genocide" and to label it as such in his annual statement on the
issue. Speaker Nancy Pelosi must now decide whether the bill be sent
to a full vote in the House of Representatives.

In 2007, the House Committee passed a similar resolution, but was
shelved after pressure from the George W Bush administration.

The U.S. is home to approximately one million citizens of Armenian
descent. During his campaign for the presidential election, Obama had
promised to brand the mass killings genocide. But his administration
later changed its opinion on the issue, as Clinton said,
"circumstances had changed in very significant ways."

Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a news
conference in Ankara on Friday that Turkey was determined to press
ahead with efforts to normalize relations with Armenia.

Turkey and Armenia have not had any diplomatic or economic relations
after Armenia declared its independence in 1991. In addition, Turkey
also closed its borders with Armenia in 1993 as a token of support for
Azerbaijan, which had a territorial conflict with Armenia.

In October last year, both the countries signed a historic accord
normalizing relations between them after a century of hostility.

Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan has insisted that his country’s
Parliament would approve the deal only after Turkey ratifies the
agreement. He also warned that Armenia could break off its
normalization efforts if Turkey delayed the ratification of the
protocols.

Turkey has demanded that the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave conflict be
resolved through international meditations and has kept the withdrawal
of Armenian forces from the enclave as a condition for ratifying the
agreement.

by RTT Staff Writer

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