GENOCIDE LABEL THREATENS U.S.-TURKISH TIES

United Press International UPI
March 8 2010

ANKARA, Turkey, March 8 (UPI) — A U.S. Congress panel’s decision to
label the mass killings of Armenians during World War I as genocide
has damaged relations with Turkey, a key ally linking the West and
the Middle East.

The resolution labels the 1915-23 killings of up to 1.5 million
Armenians genocide and calls on U.S. President Barack Obama to use
the word in his yearly statement on the issue. After the House of
Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee passed the nonbinding
resolution last week, opening the door for a vote in full House,
Turkey recalled its ambassador from Washington.

Turkish leaders over the weekend slammed the resolution, saying it
would hurt U.S.-Turkish relations if passed. Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan called it a comedy.

"Let me say quite clearly that this resolution will not harm us," he
said in remarks on Turkish television. "But it will damage bilateral
relations between countries, their interests and their visions for
the future."

The Turkish Embassy said in a statement that the resolution,
if adopted, would "impede the efforts for the normalization of
Turkey-Armenia relations."

Observers say the vote threatens an already stalled peace process
that hit its high last October when Turkey and Armenia after decades
of conflict signed two documents to re-establish ties and reopen the
countries’ mutual border.

Washington has tried everything to contain the damage.

"The Obama administration strongly opposes the resolution that was
passed by only one vote in the House committee and will work very
hard to make sure it does not go to the House floor," U.S. Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton said Friday.

A similar resolution was introduced in 2007 but failed to make it to
the House floor because it was blocked by President George W. Bush.

Turkey is a key ally for the United States. Sporting good ties with
governments in the Middle East, Ankara is able to mediate in the
nuclear conflict with Iran and in the ongoing struggle to revive the
Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

A NATO member with troops in Afghanistan, Turkey has opened its
military bases to U.S. troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is
also an important transit country for oil and gas from Central Asia
and the Caspian Sea.

Armenia says Turks killed up to 1.5 million Armenians when the Ottoman
Empire collapsed during World War I. Many historians say the killings
amount to genocide, a charge Turkey strongly denies.

In Turkey, people are critical of Armenia’s occupation of
Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave in neighboring Azerbaijan. In 1993
Ankara severed ties with Armenia when it fought a war with Azerbaijan,
a close Turkish ally.

The "genocide" label is important to Armenians scattered around the
world. An estimated 5.7 million Armenians live abroad, including
1.4 million in the United States, significantly outnumbering the 3.2
million living in the small landlocked country itself.