ARMENIAN FM RESENTS ATTEMPTS TO FAIL RESOLUTION ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AT US CONGRESS
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Sept 28 2007
YEREVAN, September 28. /ARKA/. RA foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan
is indignant at the appeal made by former US Secretaries of State to
the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi "to derail H. Res. 106."
"It is with dismay that I read the content of the letter signed by
former US Secretaries of State urging Speaker of the House Nancy
Pelosi to derail H. Res. 106," says Minister Oskanyan’s statement.
"It is quite unfortunate that eight experienced diplomats would buy
into Turkish manipulation. There is much to disagree with in that
letter, especially about the purported dangers of such a resolution.
I will only address the insincere claim that such a resolution would
"damage efforts to promote reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey,"
stated the Minister.
I regret to say that there is no process in place to promote
normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey. Expressing
concern about damaging a process that doesn’t exist is disingenuous.
"Armenia has always been ready to have normal relations with its
neighbor. Yet, every initiative that would lead toward normalization
has been rejected by Turkey. Instead, it continues to place
pre-conditions. Turkey makes offers that are simply invitations for
open-ended talk, without serious commitment to arriving at minimal,
ordinary relations between neighbors.
Even their call for a historical commission to discuss painful,
historic events is not serious, given their prohibitive penal
consequences for open speech and discussion and the adversarial
environment Turkey has created by maintaining closed borders with
Armenia," says the statement.
"I have already written to Speaker Pelosi to express our deep concerns
and to dismiss as unfounded any implication that a resolution that
addresses matters of human rights and genocide could damage anyone’s
bilateral relations," Oskanyan said.
Eight former US Secretaries of State – Madelen Albright, James Baker,
Warren Christopher, Lorence Eagleburger, Alexander Haigue, Henry
Kissinger, Colin Powel and George Schultz urged Speaker of the House
Nancy Pelosi to derail Resolution 106 on the Armenian Genocide.
According to them, the discussion of this issue will make
Armenian-Turkish reconciliation impossible, affect the USA’s relations
with official Ankara and the USA’s national and foreign interests,
create a threat to the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Resolution was submitted to the House on January 30. It is called
a House Resolution, and its adoption does not require the US Senate’s
approval and the US President’s signature.