STATE DEPT SAYS IT CANNOT STOP GENOCIDE RESOLUTION
By Desmond Butler
Associated Press
03.17.10, 11:54 AM EDT
WASHINGTON — A U.S. congressional resolution that would recognize
World War I-era killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide
could go forward despite opposition from the Obama administration.
Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon told reporters there is
no deal with Democratic congressional leaders to block the resolution.
That contradicts earlier claims by the State Department.
Turkey strongly opposes the resolution. It withdrew its ambassador
to Washington earlier this month after a congressional committee
approved the measure.
Gordon acknowledged the congressional committee vote had set back
relations at a time when the United States is seeking help from
Turkey to rein in Iran’s nuclear ambitions. But he said the United
States has not seen a deterioration in cooperation with Turkey on a
wide range of foreign policy matters.
The Obama administration has urged lawmakers to keep the measure from
a vote in the full U.S. House. It is not clear whether supporters of
the resolution have enough support to bring it to the House floor.
Gordon said the resolution is an obstacle for reconciliation talks
between Turkey and Armenia. The two countries reached a deal last
year to normalize relations and open their border, but it has not
yet been ratified by their governments.
But Gordon denied the process had stalled.
"I really think that those two countries’ leaderships are committed
to doing this," he told reporters.
He said that the Obama administration thinks the historical issues are
best addressed by the two countries as part of reconciliation talks.
Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by
Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed by
scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey, however,
denies the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has been
inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.
In a speech, Gordon urged Turkey to step up pressure on Iran,
a neighbor and important trading partner. He criticized Turkey for
not voting on a resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency
demanding that Iran suspend construction of a once-secret nuclear
facility.
"With respect to Iran, while the international community has sought
to present a single, coordinated message to Iran’s government, Turkey
has at times sounded a different note," Gordon said, according to
prepared text of the speech.