Author: Dabaghian Diana

Anadolu Agency, Turkey
March 5 2010

Turkey’s foreign minister deplores USA’s vote on Armenian "genocide"

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Friday it was bothersome
to see such a picture at the United States (US) House of
Representatives on March 4.

Minister Davutoglu’s comments came after the Foreign Relations
Committee of the US House of Representatives adopted a resolution
Thursday on the incidents of 1915 that support Armenian allegations.

We have carefully noticed that the voting process at the Committee
took place in a very flippant manner, Davutoglu underlined.

We have been deeply concerned by the picture seen at the US House of
Representatives, an entity of a global power and one that represents
one of the most crucial strengths of the history of humanity,
Davutoglu stressed.

Yesterday’s voting displayed a picture far from being serious
regarding incidents of 1915. With this decision, a verdict has been
given on the (Turkish) people. An historical incident has been judged
by a parliament, Davutoglu said.

The year 1915 may be a year of "relocation" for the Armenians. The
year 1915 was the year of Canakkale for the Turks. 1915 was a period
when a whole (Turkish) nation was defending itself. Painful incidents
were experienced in Anatolia. During that period, two million of our
people had to migrate to Anatolia from the Balkans. Large numbers of
individuals came to Anatolia from the Caucasus at that time. A great
chaos was experienced when the (Ottoman) Empire was in a process of
collapse. We have always known how to share the pain of the Turkish
nation. We have tried to obtain humanitarian lessons but not political
ones from these painful events, Davutoglu said.

Minister Davutoglu said that, following yesterday’s voting in
Washington, D.C., Turkish Ambassador Namik Tan has been recalled to
Ankara for consultations.

US Ambassador in Ankara, James Jeffrey, is currently at the Turkish
Ministry of Foreign Affairs holding talks with high level Turkish
diplomats.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Friday Turkey would not
take a decision under pressure under any circumstance.

Minister Davutoglu’s comments came after the Foreign Relations
Committee of the US House of Representatives adopted a resolution
Thursday on the incidents of 1915 that support Armenian allegations.

Turks and Armenians have lived together for 10 centuries and we regard
Armenians as friends and neighbours. If we leave aside the last
quarter century, we can strongly say that the 10 centuries passed in
great tolerance and respect, Davutoglu underlined.

Had the Ottomans not been under attack from all sides (in 1915),
certain painful incidents would not have been experienced, Davutoglu
said.

"Yesterday’s flippant and funny voting demonstrated that it was a
wrong method and road to resolve the issue. The picture we have seen
showed to the whole globe how wrong it is to judge historical
incidents in parliaments. Had one vote been on the other side, history
would have been shaped otherwise. How could history be made so simple?
How can friendship of 10 centuries be brought to such a simple level?"
Davutoglu said.

Renewing Turkey’s call for the establishment of a joint historical
committee, Minister Davutoglu said that the two sides should talk face
to face and share archives.

Let us get together and talk about how we have lived the past 9.5
centuries. Let us get together so that we can be a good role model to
our grand-children and future generations, Davutoglu said.

"Turkey will not make a decision under pressure under any conditions.
It is crucial for all to understand this. We have signed protocols
with Armenia within this perspective. We desired to share our pains
and establish a fair memory. We wanted to leave a nice legacy to the
future generations. However, despite our (positive) efforts and
intentions, we feel suspicions about the real intentions of sides when
parliaments pass resolutions on historical issues," Davutoglu
underlined.

The normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia can be
realized when th e two nations sit down together and talk with each
other. Interruptions by third sides make the normalization process
impossible to achieve, Davutoglu said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Friday that the adoption
of the Armenian resolution in the U.S House Committee on Foreign
Affairs showed that the Obama Administration did not throw enough of
weight around the issue.

The Committee on Foreign Affairs of the US House of Representatives
adopted a resolution Thursday with 23 votes against 22, calling on US
President Barack Obama to recognise the tragic events of 1915 – which
took place shortly before the fall of the Ottoman Empire – as
Genocide.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had spoken with the
committee’s chairman, Democratic Rep. Howard Berman,shortly before the
voting warning that such a vote would jeopardize reconciliation talks
between Turkey and Armenia.

The adoption of the resolution stirred wide reaction in Turkey which
strongly rejects the genocide allegations and regards the events as
civil strife in wartime which claimed lives of many Turks and
Armenians.

Davutoglu told an exclusive press conference Friday that the Obama
administration’s late intervention showed it did not put enough weight
around the issue.

He said adoption of the resolution not only risked slowing down of the
recent rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia but completely
jeopardised the process, urging the US administration to exert more
efforts to stop such attempts.

Davutoglu said Turkey made great contributions to the peaceful vision
of the Obama administration noting that these should not be sacrificed
for domestic political ends.

He said those who argued that the adoption of the resolution would
pressurize Turkish,Parliament to adopt the protocols were dead wrong,
adding that Turkey did not make foreign policy decisions under
pressure.

Davutoglu callled on the the US House of Representatives to review
their position on this issue noting that their reckless resolution
hampered a historic peace between Turkey and Armenia and harmed the
Turkey-US relations.

Davutoglu said Turkey summoned its ambassador to US Namyk Tan to
Ankara to discuss t Turkey’s possibble reaction, and steps to be taken
in Turkey’s relation’s with the US .

He said they would also discuss the issue with the President, the
cabinet and the opposition, adding that the issue was a matter of
national honour for Turkey.

Tigran Jrbashyan: no serious decrease in interest rate on credits
expected in 2010

06.03.2010 11:23 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Provision of anti-crisis financing is the primary
task for Armenian banking system, according to Ameriabank development
director Tigran Jrbashyan .

`While trying to overcome the crisis, we face a rising demand for loan
resources, entailing significant activation in loan market. To this
end, Ameriabank has scheduled a serious program on allocation of USD
80 million within current year,’ he told a news conference in Yerevan.

Tigran Jrbashyan did not forecast any serious decrease in interest
rate on credits in 2010, explaining the latter by bank’s stiffened
monetary policy, caused by the threat of inflation.

Ameriabank is an investment bank offering corporate, investment, and
limited retail services in the form of an integrated package.
Ameriabank’ strategic partner is "Troika Dialog" – one of the largest
investment banking companies in Russia.

APA, Azerbaijan
March 6 2010

Elnur Aslanov: Azerbaijan is in solidarity with Turkey, we call on the
Congress to give up illusory claims of Armenians

[ 06 Mar 2010 17:06 ]

Baku. Lachin Sultanova ` APA. `The passage of the so-called Armenian
genocide resolution by the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs is
the demonstration of double standards,’ said Elnur Aslanov, chief of
the political analysis and informational provision department of
Azerbaijan’s Presidential Administration, APA reports.

Elnur Aslanov said first of all, one-vote margin after the recount was
confusing.
`Secondly, by raising the issues not basing on historical facts, the
US that speaks about democracy and human rights demonstrates biased
position. The discussion of the events that happened 95 years ago does
not serve peace and stability in the South Caucasus. The lawmakers,
who strive to reveal the truth, should know that on February 26, 1992,
the Armenian side committed Khojaly genocide that may be compared with
the most terrible manslaughters. If the congressmen need truth, then
why the Committee on Foreign Affairs does not raise the Khojaly issue
or demand the punishment of the perpetrators. Why doesn’t the U.S.
Congress speak about the genocide of Azerbaijanis by Armenians in
Baku, Guba, Lankaran, Salyan and Shamakhy in March 1918? Why does the
Congress believe the words of the side that declared Hamazasp,
Adronik, Nzhde and Dro, who stained their hands with the blood of
thousands of innocent people? Why has the Committee on Foreign Affairs
been ignoring for 22 years the violation of the rights of one million
people by Armenia? Do some congressmen serve the interests of the U.S.
society or personal interests? All this casts shadow on the sincerity
of the statements on the stability in the South Caucasus. ‘

Similar steps are blow to the ideals of democracy of America. How can
the country that strives to export democratic values and ideas defend
blindly the interests of a group of Armenian Diaspora organizations
and their lobbyists in the Congress? Such steps contradict the desire
of the US to establish peace and stability in various parts of the
world.

Head of the Committee on Foreign Affairs Howard Berman says that he
has been in the Congress for 27 years. Why does he raise the genocide
issue, but ignores Turkey’s proposal to study jointly the historical
facts? Why do the Armenian Diaspora and Armenian leadership brought up
for centuries in the spirit of hatred for Turkey and Azerbaijan
refuses rational and constructive view on historical realities?
Genocide card is a pretext for those who want to exert pressure on
Turkey. The passage of the so-called Armenian genocide resolution in
the House Committee on Foreign Affairs is a historical mistake. The
Turkish people know that in 1915 the super powers made the Armenians
betray the country the lived in. And now they want to use `Armenian
card’ for the sake of their ambitions. But it will fail. The world has
changed. Those who want to trigger instability in the South Caucasus
will lose. Hopefully sense will triumph in the U.S. Congress.

It is clear for us for what the Armenian leadership strives by
protracting the solution to Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. Azerbaijan
and Turkey are not only geostrategic partners, they are states united
by history, language and religion. Azerbaijan is in solidarity with
Turkey, we call on the Congress to give up illusory claims of
Armenians.
Economic situation is deteriorating in Armenia, political situation
contradicts the norms of democracy, journalists, parliamentarians and
other public figures are in prison. Under the present circumstances,
the U.S. Congress together with the Armenian lobby should discuss the
reasons of this situation and give an objective assessment to it. The
Armenian Diaspora should realize that it does not take into account
Armenia’s future problems by directing funds for making decisions on
the past and groundless issues. Idle resolutions will not be able to
raise the economy collapsed during the crisis, will not create
conditions for regional cooperation, to the contrary will make the
situation in Armenia much worse. One can not feed the people with
resolutions.

Third, I would like to remind Armenian Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian, who appeals to the human rights and prevention of crimes
against humanity, that Armenians committed genocide against
Azerbaijani civilians in 1905, 1918, 1992. With the support of
Armenian leadership Armenian extremists killed tens of Turkish and
Azerbaijani political and public figures. Therefore, the Armenian
official should first of all have a look at the history of his country
before speaking about human rights and crimes against humanity,’ he
said.

Aysor, Armenia
March 6 2010

Kusturica promised to support `Golden Apricot’ film festival

Today President Serzh Sargsyan received the Serbian famous film
director, musician Emir Kusturica. The famous film director is in
Armenia for the first time. Yesterday took place the concert of the
band of Kusturica called `The No Smoking Orchestra’.

`It’s a pleasure to host you in the Armenian land. Your visit is a
significant event for our country. Our nations have many common
historical features and your art and music are too close to our
people’, – President told to the musician.

Emir Kusturica passed his impressions to the Armenian President.

`Armenia is a very beautiful country. Our countries have many common
features because of the tragic history, and I am happy for this
visit’,- he has noticed.

Targeted News Service
March 4, 2010 Thursday 12:08 AM EST

House Foreign Affairs Committee Howard L. Berman (D-CA), Chairman

WASHINGTON

The House Foreign Affairs Committee issued the following news release:

Chairman Berman’s opening remarks at markup of the Armenian Genocide
resolution, H. Res. 252

Turkey is a vital and, in most respects, a loyal ally of the United
States in a volatile region. We have also been a loyal ally to Turkey,
and should continue to be so. Be that as it may, nothing justifies
Turkey’s turning a blind eye to the reality of the Armenian Genocide.
It is regrettable, for example, that Turkey’s Nobel-Prize-winning
novelist, Orhan Pamuk, was essentially hounded out of his native
country for speaking out on this subject. Now I don’t pretend to be a
professional historian. I haven’t scoured the archives in Istanbul
looking for original documents.

But the vast majority of experts – the vast majority – academics,
authorities in international law, and others who have looked at this
issue for years, agree that the tragic massacres of the Armenians
constitute genocide.

In a letter to members of congress two years ago, the International
Association of Genocide Scholars stated the following, and I quote:

"The historical record on the Armenian Genocide is unambiguous and
documented by overwhelming evidence. It is proven by foreign office
records of the United States, France, Great Britain, Russia, and
perhaps most importantly, of Turkey’s World War I allies, Germany and
Austria-Hungary, as well as by the records of the Ottoman
Courts-Martial of 1918-1920, and by decades of scholarship."

"As crimes of genocide continue to plague the world, Turkey’s policy
of denying the Armenian Genocide gives license to those who perpetrate
genocide everywhere."

The Genocide Scholars urged the House to pass a resolution
acknowledging the Armenian Genocide because, they said, it would
constitute – and I quote again — "recognition of a historical turning
point in the twentieth century, the event that inaugurated the era of
modern genocide. In spite of its importance, the Armenian Genocide has
gone unrecognized until recently, and warrants a symbolic act of moral
commemoration."

Professor Yehuda Bauer, a highly respected scholar at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, has written that the Armenian Genocide is, in
his words, "the closest parallel to the Holocaust."

In a 1985 report, a subcommission of the UN Commission on Human Rights
found that the massacres of the Armenians qualified as genocide.

And Raphael Lemkin, the Polish lawyer who coined the word "genocide"
and drafted the international genocide convention, told an interviewer
that, quote "I became interested in genocide because it happened to
the Armenians."

Nearly two dozen other countries – including France, Canada, Russia,
Switzerland and Chile – have formally recognized the Armenian
Genocide. So has the European Parliament.

As the world leader in promoting human rights, the United States has a
moral responsibility to join them.

The Turks say passing this resolution could have terrible consequences
for our bilateral relationship, and indeed perhaps there will be some
consequences. But I believe that Turkey values its relations with the
United States at least as much as we value our relations with Turkey.

And I believe the Turks, however deep their dismay today,
fundamentally agree that the U.S.-Turkish alliance is simply too
important to get sidetracked by a non-binding resolution passed by the
House of Representatives.

At some point, every nation must come to terms with its own history.
And that is all we ask of Turkey.

Germany has accepted responsibility for the Holocaust. South Africa
set up a Truth Commission to look at Apartheid. And here at home, we
continue to grapple with the legacies of slavery and our horrendous
treatment of Native Americans.

It is now time for Turkey to accept the reality of the Armenian Genocide.

This will most likely be a difficult and painful process for the
Turkish people, but at the end of the day, it will strengthen Turkish
democracy and put the U.S.-Turkey relationship on a better footing.

I urge my colleagues to support this important resolution.

Contact: Lynne Weil, 202/225-5021

Aysor, Armenia
March 5 2010

Sparapet Vazgen Sarkisian’s birthday: he would have turned 51

On March 5 Vazgen Sarkisian, late Armenia’s Defense Minister and Prime
Minister, would have turned 51 years old, had he not been gunned down
11 years ago on October 27, 1999.

Vazgen Sarkisian, who devoted much of his life to the Armenian fight
with Azerbaijan for liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh, was crowned by
Armenian nation as Sparapet ` the title that over ages was awarded to
very few persons.

Vazgen Sarkisian was very influential in creating the Armenian army
after the Soviet Union’s collapse; he greatly contributed to
liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh, helped found the Karabakh Committee,
commanded ground troops (1990`92), and held senior posts in the
defense ministry and government of Armenia.

Vazgen Sarkisian was born in 1959 in the village of Ararat. He was a
qualified sports trainer and taught physical education until 1983,
when he started his political career.

In 1985 he became a member of Armenian Writers’ Union, and worked as a
chief of the department of journalism of Garun magazine (The Spring).

In 1990-92s, Sparapet was the commander of the Erkrapa group
volunteers, gaining a reputation as a military leader. It was this
reputation that helped him to rise to the office of Defense Minister
of Armenia in 1991 and country’s Prime Minister in 1999.

Nearly five months later he was shot dead during an armed attack on
Armenian Parliament on October 27, 1999.

Sparapet Vazgen Sarkisian was posthumously awarded as Armenia’s National Hero.

By this day, marking Vazgen Sarkisian’s birthday and in dedication to
his memory in people’s hearts, `The Sparapet’ (Warlord) book by
Colonel Martin Bagdasarian is to be published.

NRC International, Netherlands
March 5 2010

Turkish-American relations strained by mention of genocide

Published: 5 March 2010 17:09 | Changed: 5 March 2010 17:18

A US House of Representatives committee resolution containing a much
maligned word has set off a row between Washington and Ankara. By Bram
Vermeulen in Istanbul

It is not like it is the first time the United States has let its
loyal Nato ally in the Muslim world down. But that is how indignant
the Turkish response to the decision by the American House of
Representatives’ foreign affairs committee was.

On Thursday, the committee passed a resolution condemning the mass
killings of Armenians in 1915 as `genocide’. Immediately, the Turkish
ambassador in Washington was ordered to return. Prime minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan condemned the resolution in the harshest terms: `We are
being accused of a crime we did not commit’. And analysts were quick
to point out Turkish-American relations could suffer at a time the
Americans need Turkey’s help the most, in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran.

Live broadcast

For hours on end, Turkish TV offered a live broadcast of the House
committee as it counted votes. It was reported with the same vigour as
an important football match would, only here history was at stake. For
a long time, the vote seemed to be turning out `in our favour’, as
Turkish TV hosts, viewers calling in, and parliamentarians put it. But
finally, the resolution [link] stating `the Armenian Genocide was
conceived and carried out by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923,’
passed with a narrow 23 to 22 majority. Pressure from the Obama
administration to reject the resolution proved in vain.

The foreign affairs committee has passed similar resolutions on to the
House seven times before. The last time was in 2007, when it was
shelved under pressure from the Bush administration.

`Have we forgotten people have been at this game since 1975?’ the
former Turkish foreign affairs minister Ilter Türkmen wondered out
loud as he was following the voting on Turkish TV on Thursday night.
`Apparently the Armenian lobby feels it is necessary to refresh our
memory repeatedly.’

But the Armenians could yet become the resolution’s biggest victims,
Turkish minister of foreign affairs Ahmet Davutoglu warned on Friday.
In October, Davutoglu signed a protocol promising to establish
diplomatic ties, open the border dividing the two nations, and instate
an historical commission composed of experts from both countries to
study the events of 1915. `It not fair to blame Turkey for the fact
these protocols haven’t been ratified yet,’ Davutoglu said. Resistance
has been coming from the Armenian side as well, including the
Armenian-American lobby that was so successful in pushing for the
House resolution in recent weeks.

In the past, the pro-Israel lobby US opposed similar resolutions, but
it has been loath to come to Turkey’s defence since its criticism of
Israel attack on the Gaza strip last winter. Turkish minister of
foreign affairs said, adding that foreign pressure could only serve to
damage the peace process between his country and its Christian
neighbour.

Turkey against the world

On the Turkish streets, far removed from international diplomacy, one
message was heard loud and clear: the world is against us, and it has
been since the Ottoman Empire fell. `An old friend will never become
an enemy, an old enemy never a friend,’ shoemaker Ismet Cahmak mumbled
on Friday morning. `This vote proves the Christian community is
unified in its struggle against us Muslims.’

Genocide denial strikes at the heart and soul of the Turkish Republic,
as it was formed at the beginning of the last century. The Turks do
not deny that Armenians were killed en masse in 1915, even if their
official estimates (300,000) are far lower than most historians’ (1 to
1.5 million). The Turks argue that the Armenians were fighting with
the Russians when the Ottoman Empire was torn apart by the West on one
side and Russia on the other, in this particularly bloody episode of
the First World War.

`The truth is, the Armenians revolted against us,’ said former
minister Türkmen. `This is a matter of pride and an affront to the
true nature of history. It is also an attack on the integrity of our
borders. In a recent ruling, an Armenian court upheld the country’s
claim to West-Armenia [eastern Turkey],’ he added.

Admitting to genocide would be paramount to denying the Turkish
Republic’s right to exist. The modern republic was founded on the
smouldering remains of the Ottoman Empire. According to historian
Taner Akcam, the Turkish national identity is defined by the
humiliation of the empire’s downfall. This has endowed Turks with a
strong sense that it is them against the world, he said.

In his book From Empire to Republic, Akcam described how Turkish
writers and journalists in the 1920s dedicated themselves to writing
exclusively positive stories about their compatriots, responding to
the inferiority complex the loss of an empire had caused. Listening to
Turkish reporters’ `us against them’ narrative broadcast from
Washington DC on Thursday night, one might think little had changed.

On Friday, Istanbul’s Armenian neighbourhoods also proved wary of the
American resolution. `The people who took this decision didn’t do so
because they care for Armenians and their fate,’ refrigerator
repairman Anton Sasmaz said. `It is all about their own interests. The
world will come to see Turkey in an even more negative light. Our
membership of the European Union will be further away than ever. What
good does that do us?’

52.ece/Turkish-American_relations_strained_by_ment ion_of_genocide

Euronews Video on Passage of Genocide Resolution
2010/03/05 | 12:36

world
Anahit Shirinyan

(euronew s) Thursday’s genocide vote in the US congress has produced
strong reactions from both Armenia and Turkey. Unsurprisingly, the
Armenians are happy at the outcome, while Turkey has recalled its US
ambassador.

Kenneth Khachikan, Chairman of the Armenian National Committee, said:
`Clearly the members of the committee were under incredible pressure
from the Turkish government, and even as late as last night,
apparently from the administration, to not do this. So we applaud the
bipartisan endorsement of what occurred, and we look forward to moving
this on the House floor.’

Russia Today
March 5 2010

Turkey furious as US declares Ottoman-era killings of Armenians `genocide’

Published 05 March, 2010, 17:40
Edited 05 March, 2010, 22:58

The US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee has approved
a resolution that recognizes the World War I-era deaths of Armenians
in Ottoman-era Turkey as an act of `genocide’.

After hours of discussion, the House of Foreign Affairs Committee
barely passed the resolution with a 23-22 vote that labels the murder
of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians during World War I as genocide.

Immediately after the vote, Ankara recalled its ambassador from
Washington, condemning the US Committee’s decision.

"We condemn this bill that blames the Turkish nation for a crime it
did not commit. Our Washington ambassador was invited to Ankara
tonight for consultations," Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan
said in a statement.

Erdogan went on to warn that `Turkey will not be responsible for the
negative results that this event may lead to,’ saying that
Washington’s decision will `harm Turkey-U.S. ties’ and could derail
talks aimed at opening the border between Turkey and Armenia.

`Unfortunately, by this decision, the US has demonstrated its attitude
towards the Turkic nations. I think that everybody, who considers
himself a Turk, should react adequately and condemn the US Committee’s
decision,’ said Azerbaijani deputy Ganira Pashaeva. She added that
`should take all necessary steps to stop the US Congress from adopting
this resolution.’

Like the Turkish and Azerbaijan response, Armenia’s reaction didn’t
come as a surprise. The Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan
has praised the adoption of the resolution, saying that they `highly
appreciate the decision’ of the congressional panel. `This is further
proof of the devotion of the American people to universal human values
and is an important step towards the prevention of crimes against
humanity," said Nalbandyan.

However, the Committee’s decision is only another step in recognizing
the genocide.

The 23-22 vote now sends the measure to the full House of
Representatives, where the prospects for passage are uncertain. In
2007 a similar notion was adopted by the Foreign Affairs Committee;
however, it never made to the next level. After intense pressure by
the Bush administration, who feared passage of the resolution would
harm their war effort in the Middle East, the resolution was not
brought to the House floor.

Despite US President Barack Obama’s vows during the 2008 presidential
campaign to recognize the killings of Armenians as genocide, the White
House had urged against the vote, fearing that it could anger
Washington’s NATO ally, Turkey. However, last year at the annual White
House statement on the day marking the Armenian remembrance, Obama
also failed to call the killings a `genocide’.

A Turkish official showing bread to Armenians dying of starvation.
(AGBU’s photostream )
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had urged the House committee
not to vote, saying that it would damage reconciliation efforts
between Turkey and Armenia. `We do not believe that the full Congress
will or should act upon that resolution, and we have made that clear
to all the parties involved,’ Clinton advised lawmakers.
It’s estimated that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the
Ottoman Turks during World War I. Many historians call this the `first
genocide of the 20th century.’

A number of countries ` including Germany, Russia, Italy, France,
Canada, Greece and most of the US states, as well as the Vatican, the
European Parliament and the World Council of Churches have denounced
the killings as genocide.

Turkey however, says the death toll has been inflated and those killed
were the victims of civil war and unrest, denying that genocide had
taken place. Ankara insists, in order for Armenia to have diplomatic
and economic relations with Turkey, it should drop its claim for
international recognition of genocide.

Olga Masalkova, RT

n-armenia-genocide.html?fullstory

CBS 47
March 5 2010

Local Armenians React to Genocide Vote

Reported by: Alexandra Limon

Local Armenians are reacting after a congressional committee voted to
use the word genocide. The word is important to Armenians who want the
mass killings of World War I labeled as genocide.

The term genocide means; the deliberate and systematic destruction, in
whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group,
which is why it is so politically controversial and could jeopardize
U.S. relations with Turkey.

CBS47 spoke with local Armenians who support the resolution and are
criticizing the White House for its opposition.

Local Armenians whose family members were directly affected by the
mass killings, say this is a small victory but they say recognition of
the killings as genocide would help give them closure.

Modern day Armenians say the killing of more than one and a half
million Armenians during WW1 by Ottoman Turks was the first modern day
genocide.

More than 20 nations, including 11 NATO allies, recognize the killings
as genocide but the United States does not¦ at least not yet.

In a controversial move, the house foreign affairs committee passed a
resolution, recognizing the mass killings as genocide, by a vote of 23
to 22, despite opposition from the White House. Congresswoman Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen said, `and we need to ensure that our decisions and our
actions concerning the resolution before us do not have unintended
consequences.’

Turkey calls the killings, `casualties of the war’ and says the
country is not guilty of genocide.

Following the vote, Turkey recalled their U.S. Ambassador from the
United States, saying negotiations for an open border with Armenia may
be in jeopardy. U.S. military bases that are key in supporting the war
in the Middle East could also be threatened.

The resolution was only passed by a House Panel and it’s still unclear
if it will even make it to the House Floor, where it would be much
more difficult for it to pass. Similar resolutions were rejected in
2000, 2005, and 2007.

Armenians-React-to-Genocide-Vote/BG6VKp_amUKHJYYbs _4SRw.cspx