HOWARD BERMAN CRITICIZES LAWMAKERS WHO OPPOSED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 19, 2010 – 20:28 AMT 15:28 GMT

In an April 13 letter, Rep. Howard Berman chairman of the House Foreign
Affairs Committee, criticized lawmakers who opposed Armenian Genocide
resolution. Berman, a long-time backer of the measure, called some
of the arguments being made against the resolution as "morally-blind."

I disagree with many points in the letter, but I take particularly
strong exception to the use of the phrase ‘so-called ‘Armenian
Genocide Resolution," which casts doubt on the historicity of
the Armenian Genocide. In doing so, it flies in the face of the
overwhelming weight of unimpeachable historical evidence and the
virtually unanimous opinion of genocide scholars," Berman writes in
his Dear Colleague letter.

The California Democrat was referring to another Dear Colleague
letter, this one dated March 29 and signed by Reps. Steve Cohen Kay
Granger (R-Texas) and Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), the three co-chairs of
the Congressional Caucus on U.S.-Turkish Relations. In their letter,
the three lawmakers asked their peers to call on Speaker Nancy Pelosi
(D-Calif.) to not let the resolution come up for a floor vote.

A spokeswoman for one of the members said it seemed as if Berman
misread their letter. "The chairman’s entire letter seems to emanate
from a misreading of the words he referenced. The words ‘so called’
modify or refer to ‘Resolution’ – not to ‘Armenian Genocide’ –
hence, the ‘so called Resolution’ or the ‘so called Armenian Genocide
Resolution,’" said Whitfield spokeswoman Kristin Walker.

Walker also said the letter has not been released to Pelosi yet and
has more than 20 lawmakers signing onto it so far.

In their letter, the three members argue the resolution will cause
"irrevocable harm" to U.S. foreign policy as well as "derail" the
normalization process between Turkey and Armenia, which has been
helped along by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, if it is
voted on by the full House. They also believe the measure could hurt
the U.S. economy, considering the more than $10 billion shipped to
Turkey in U.S. exports each year.

In his response, Berman takes issue with all of the Turkish Caucus
leaders’ points, saying that Turkey would not give up seeing U.S.
intelligence on anti-Turkey militants in Iraq or forgo U.S. investment
because of the measure. He also believes the normalization process
between Armenia and Turkey has stalled not because of the U.S.
resolution but because disagreements both sides have had on the
deal instead.