U.S. HOUSE VOTE TO GAIN BARGAINING CHIP IN ARMENIA-TURKEY ACCORD
news.am
March 11 2010
Armenia
Approval of Genocide Resolution by the U.S. House Committee on Foreign
Affairs is perceived in Armenia "as heralding a last-ditched attempt
by Washington to salvage the Turkish-Armenian normalization agreements
signed in October under American mediation," reads the article by
Emil Danielyan on Jamestown Foundation website.
The author says that resolution calls on Barack Obama to "accurately
characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000
Armenians as genocide." In contrast to other years Committee
Chairman Howard Berman "seems to have faced no pressure from the
Obama administration", the article reads, adding that last moment
Hillary Clinton telephoned him asking to shelve the vote.
According to Danielyan, "Washington itself engineered the House
committee vote to gain a potent bargaining chip in its Armenia-related
dealings with Ankara."
Armenian side is ready to wait till April 24 – Remembrance Day of
Armenian Genocide victims, whereas Turkey hopes that Obama will again
refrain from saying the word ‘genocide’.