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Turkish MP's Off to Washington D.C. to Lobby Against Genocide Bill

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  • Turkish MP's Off to Washington D.C. to Lobby Against Genocide Bill

    Turkish MP's Off to Washington D.C. to Lobby Against Genocide Bill
    2010/02/27 | 13:28

    region
    http://hetq.am/en/region/27550/

    Two groups of Turkish parliamentarians will visit Washington, D.C., to
    lobby against the `Armenian genocide' bill that will be voted on by
    the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs on March 4.

    Members of the Turkish Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee and the
    Turkey-U.S. Parliamentary Friendship Group are scheduled to start
    lobbying in the U.S. capital on March 1, this according to a report in
    yesterday's Hurriyet.

    Suat Kiniklioglu the ruling AKP vice president for foreign relations,
    described the upcoming vote as `a misfortune' showing `lack of
    foresight' while the normalization processes between Turkey and
    Armenia is still underway.

    `The Armenian diaspora in the U.S. attempted [to pass this bill] in
    2007, but failed. The bill was passed through the U.S. House Committee
    on Foreign Affairs, but failed to pass in Congress,' Kiniklioglu told
    reporters. `We are planning to prevent the bill's ratification by the
    committee. In case of failure, we will attempt [to lobby] Congress to
    not vote for this bill.'

    The AKP official described the timing of the vote `absurd and
    inappropriate' in regard to existing Turkey-U.S. relations. `We hope
    our efforts will prevent this risky attempt, which may damage
    bilateral relations,' he said. `We act in unity as government,
    opposition and NGOs in the U.S.'

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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