GENOCIDE: TURKEY MAY HAVE HEADACHE IF DEMOCRATS SCORE VICTORY IN U.S. CONGRESS
PanARMENIAN.Net
18.10.2006 13:30 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey, frustrated by a French National Assembly vote
this week to criminalize denial of the Armenian Genocide, may have
a major headache on the same issue if the Democrats score a victory
in the U.S. Congress in next month’s elections. Last Thursday’s vote
in the French parliament was a victory for Armenian groups and their
supporters, but the top-prize country for the Armenians has always
been and will always be the United States, says Turkish Daily News.
The newspaper observer says that President George W. Bush’s
administration, like earlier administrations, so far has consistently
declined to use the term Genocide in official remarks in an effort
to avoid alienating Turkey. But Congress has always been Turkey’s
weaker side. With the Republican Party, which currently holds clear
majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives,
in shambles, political analysts agree it is highly likely that the
Democrats will win a majority in the House in November, for the first
time since the 1994 elections.
A Democratic triumph in the House or the Senate will mean major
problems for Turkey in its efforts to stop genocide recognition. In
the event of a Democratic victory in the House, pro-Armenian lawmakers
will definitely force legislation for the Armenian Genocide recognition
shortly after the new Congress takes office in January. U.S. Armenians
accuse the Republican Bush of failing to keep his earlier pledge for
Genocide recognition and backed Democratic presidential candidate
John Kerry, a strong supporter of the Armenian cause in the Senate,
in the 2004 elections.