TURKEY SIGNS OFF ON $1.6 BILLION DEAL WITH BOEING DESPITE HOUSE VOTE

World Tribune
TARC/2010/me_turkey0187_03_09.asp
March 10 2010

WASHINGTON — Turkey has approved the purchase of U.S. passenger jets
despite a House vote that blamed Ankara for the genocide of Armenians
during World War I.

The state-owned Turkish Airlines has concluded an order for 20
passenger jets from the U.S. firm Boeing. Under the $1.6 billion deal,
Turkish Airlines would receive 20 advanced 737 airplanes, including
10 737-800s and 10 737-900ER aircraft. The 737-900ER would mark the
latest 737 family member to join the Turkish fleet.

"The 737-800 is the backbone of the Turkish Airlines fleet and proves
its value on a daily basis offering unmatched levels of efficiency
and reliability," Boeing vice president Marlin Dailey said.

The March 8 statement came four days after the House Foreign Affairs
Committee voted to endorse a resolution on the Armenian genocide.

After the 23-22 vote, Ankara threatened to impose sanctions on
aerospace and defense cooperation with Washington.

Boeing has been a leading aerospace contractor in Turkey. The company
has been prime contractor in the supply of four airborne early-warning
aircraft to the Turkish Air Force.

Earlier, U.S. aerospace lobbyists warned that the House vote could
derail plans for major contracts in Turkey. They said Ankara was
expected to order $11 billion in defense and aerospace platforms from
the United States in 2010.

"Critical national security, economic and diplomatic relations with
our ally Turkey are threatened," Marion Blakey, president of the
Aerospace Industries Association, said.

But the Turkish lobby in the United States did not expect the Armenian
genocide resolution to win approval on the House floor. Lobbyists
pointed out that the non-binding resolution was passed in the House
Foreign Affairs Committee in 2000, 2005 and 2007, but blocked from
reaching the House floor through heavy pressure by the White House.

"The resolution has passed the panel vote with the narrowest
possible margin and has no political credibility [in Congress],"
American-Turkish Council president James Holmes, a former U.S.

ambassador, told the Turkish daily Hurriyet. "Those who were in favor
did so purely from a local political perspective."