Turkish Daily News
March 8 2007
Turkey stops US Senate measure, for now
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Senator objects to language on Armenian genocide, prompting delay of
at least two weeks
ÜMÝT ENGÝNSOY
WASHINGTON – Turkish Daily News
Acting on concerns by Ankara and the Washington administration over
a reference to the "Armenian genocide" in a proposed congressional
resolution on Turkey, a senior Republican senator has moved to
temporarily stop the passage at a Senate panel of themeasure, which
urges the Turks, among other things, to establish normal relations
with Armenia.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee was scheduled on Tuesday to
vote on the resolution introduced by Sen. Joe Biden, the committee’s
Democratic chairman. However, after opposition by Richard Lugar, the
panel’s ranking Republican senator, it was delayed for at least two
weeks.
The non-binding measure condemns Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink’s murder and calls on Turkey to abolish a penal code article
blamed for restricting freedom of expression and to launch
diplomatic, political and trade ties with Armenia. Turkey indeed
prefers if the resolution does not pass the Senate at all, but is
particularly concerned over a reference to the Armenian genocide in
the measure’s background section. Ankara fears that a Senate approval
of the original text may act as a precedent for future congressional
action.
Although President George W. Bush’s administration, which has
strongly condemned Dink’s assassination, would like to see Turkey
repeal the Turkish Penal Code’s (TCK) controversial Article 301 and
set up good relations with Armenia, it also shares Ankara’s worries
over the resolution’s reference to the Armenian genocide. Therefore,
the administration is seeking to persuade the panel’s senators to
drop that reference, diplomats said. As a result, Sen Lugar, who is
generally known for his support for Turkey, raised an objection to
the resolution’s language when the measure came to the Tuesday vote.
According to committee rules, Biden said that the vote would be
delayed until the panel’s next business meeting, which may take place
in two or three weeks’ time. Lugar and Biden are expected to sit
together and seek to agree on a joint text before that gathering. The
measure, if passed by the panel, will move to the Senate floor.
Turkish diplomats were apparently relieved by the temporary delay.
"We really appreciate Sen. Lugar’s very responsible move," said one
diplomat. U.S. Armenians voiced dismay over the delay, but said they
would continue to actively pursue the original resolution’s passage.
"We are troubled that Senator Lugar – apparently acting at the
request of the administration – has delayed the U.S. Senate’s tribute
to the life and memory of Hrant Dink," said Aram Hamparian, executive
director of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA),
according to an ANCA statement. "We look forward to the panel, at the
next opportunity, rejecting any efforts to block or water down this
measure, and passing it in the form it was introduced," he said."It
is unfortunate that the committee deferred action on this important
resolution," said Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd, a member of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, according to ANCA.
Dink, editor of the Turkish-Armenian daily Agos, was shot dead in
front of his office in Istanbul on Jan. 19. A teenager, who has
confessed to killing Dink, and a group of ultranationalists have been
arrested for the crime. Dink received a suspended six-month sentence
under Article 301 in 2005 for insulting "Turkish identity." Turkey’s
government says it is working to amend Article 301, but that the
legislation will not be abolished altogether. Turkey officially
recognized Armenia when the latter gained its independence from the
former Soviet Union in 1991. But Ankara refuses to establish
diplomatic ties with Yerevan and open the border, saying Armenia has
been keeping the Nagorno-Karabakh region inside Azerbaijan and
another 20 percent of Azeri territory under its occupation.
The most important Armenian-related resolution pending in Congress
is a measure introduced in the House of Representatives in late
January, calling on the recognition of World War I-era killings of
Armenians during the Ottoman Empire as genocide. It may enter the
House agenda in late March or April.