ONE SHOULD NOT COMPLETELY ATTRIBUTE AFFIRMATION OF H.RES.252 ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE TO US CONGRESS CAUCUS ON ARMENIAN ISSUES

ArmInfo
2010-03-09 20:31:00

ArmInfo. One should not completely attribute the affirmation of
H.Res.252 on the Armenian Genocide to the US Congress Caucus on
Armenian Issues, Armenian MP from Heritage faction Vardan Khachatryan
told journalists, Tuesday.

According him, the affirmation of the resolution is also a lever of
pressure on Turkey, which could be used for a number of reasons.

"Turkey caused serious troubles for the USA twice: for the first
time – when it refused to provide its territory for passage of US
troops to Iraq, and for the second time – when it blocked Bosporus
and Dardanelles for US ships during the conflict in South Ossetia in
August 2008. Therefore, it is easy to suppose that the affirmation
of the resolution was dictated by the interests of US establishment
and was though over in advance. This is proved by the fact that the
resolution was demonstratively affirmed with one casting vote",-
said Khachatryan. He thinks that the Turkish politicians’ emotional
statements made after the affirmation of the resolution are nothing
but the display of the real stance of these politicians about Armenia.

On March 4 2010 the House Committee on Foreign Affairs affirmed House
Resolution 252, or the non- binding Armenian Genocide Resolution, that
calls upon the President to recognize the death of 1.5 million ethnic
Armenians as genocide in his annual remembrance on April 24. The
committee split 23 yes votes to 22 no votes. For final adoption,
the resolution requires approval by the House of Representatives. No
approval by the Senate or the President is required. Earlier Turkish
Parliament addressed a letter to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs
saying that affirmation of the Resolution may impede the Armenian-
Turkish normalization.