EuroNews – France
March 5, 2010 Friday

US politicians call killing of Armenians ‘genocide’

A US congressional panel has labelled the 1915 killing of Armenians by
Turkey ‘genocide’. President Obama’s administration had tried to
prevent voting on the controversial issue on Thursday.

Whilst Armenia is happy with the outcome, Turkey has recalled its
ambassador to the US.

However, the panel felt a decision was important. Speaking after the
vote, Congressman Brad Sherman said: "Long term, we will not have a
good relationship with Turkey until it abandons this effort to deny
the past and engage in genocide denial. Would we have a good
relationship with the German government denying the Holocaust? And
who would have a good relationship with us if we were denying slavery
and so many other things in our past?

It is estimated that 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman
Turks 95 years ago. Turkey accepts that some people were killed, but
it disputes the number that died and will not agree to the term
‘genocide’.

The US Congress last discussed this contentious issue in 2007.