Anadolu Agency, Turkey
March 5 2010

THURSDAY’S VOTING ON INCIDENTS OF 1915 NOTHING BUT GREAT COMEDY, MERCAN

WASHINGTON, D.C. (A.A) -05.03.2010 -Chairman of the Turkish
Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, Murat Mercan, said Friday the
voting that took place in the US House of Representatives’ Foreign
Relations Committee on the incidents of 1915 on Thursday was nothing
but a great comedy ever witnessed in the world.

In a press conference held at the Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C.,
Mercan thanked all Turkish deputies from both the ruling and
opposition parties, Ambassador Namik Tan, distinguished members of the
Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C. and all lobbyists who all worked
to convey Turkish position on the incidents of 1915 prior to
Thursday’s voting on a resolution at the Foreign Relations Committee
of the US House of Representatives.

I had a phone conversation with the Turkish Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Ahmet Davutoglu, and our minister told me to convey his
thanks and appreciation to all that worked against the resolution on
the incidents of 1915, Mercan stressed.

As we have witnessed here, regardless of political backgrounds, the
Turkish nation is one that comes together and unites during tough
times, Mercan underlined.

No matter how the resolution ends in the near future, Turkey will
definitely not be a loser and there will be no winners, Mercan said.

The only entity that won due to Thursday’s voting was a handful of
Armenian diaspora members who have undermined the good will and
stability in the (Caucasus) region, Mercan underlined.

The result at the US committee has neither increased nor decreased the
number of things we must do, Mercan reminded.

Meanwhile, a Turkish deputy from the north-western province of
Istanbul, Sukru Elekdag, said that, if the protocols signed by Turkey
and Armenia come to the Foreign Affairs Committee at the Turkish
Parliament, the protocols may not be approved or the committee may
behave in a similar fashion as of the Armenian Constitutional Court.

The US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Relations
approved the resolution on Armenian allegations on Thursday.

The committee approved the resolution on incidents of 1915 – which
took place shortly before the fall of the Ottoman Empire – with 23
votes against 22.

The resolution was proposed by Democrats Adam Schiff and Frank Pallone
and Republicans George Radanovich and Mark Kirk, all important figures
for the Armenian lobby in the US.

Turkey strongly rejects the genocide allegations and regards the
events as civil strife in wartime which claimed lives of many Turks
and Armenians.

Every year between March 4 and April 24 alarm bells ring for relations
between Turkey and US, two close allies for decades.

The Armenian lobbies in the US pressure the US legislators to pass a
resolution urging the President to recognise the events as genocide.

Turkish legislators and officials pay visits to US House and hold
meetings with senior US officials and businessmen to prevent the
resolution from being adopted.

A similar resolution was adopted with 27 votes against 21 in 2007 but
as a result of former President George W. Bush’s intervention, the
resolution was not brought to the House floor.