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Baku Sun, Azerbaijan
March 16 2007
Rice, Gates: `genocide' bill may damage US security
By William C.Mann
WASHINGTON - The U.S. secretaries of state and defense contend that
the security of the United States is at risk from proposed
legislation that would declare Armenians victims of a genocide on
Turkish soil almost a century ago. In joint identical letters to the
speaker of the House of Representatives and two other senior members,
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert
Gates said the resolution also could inflict significant damage on
U.S. efforts to reconcile the long-standing dispute between the West
Asian neighbors.
The appeals went to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Rep. John
Boehner, leader of the House's Republican minority; and Rep. Tom
Lantos, the Democrat who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
`This is an incredibly sensitive issue inside Turkey, and what we are
trying to encourage the Turks to have is meaningful reform of their
dealings with Armenia,' retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Joseph Ralston,
former Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, told The Associated Press
in an interview Wednesday. `It has huge ramifications for the foreign
policy of this country.' The Associated Press obtained a copy of one
of the letters Wednesday. It was dated March 7, two days after
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian was in Washington to visit
Rice and said afterward that `Turkish lobbying at a government level'
threatened to scuttle the resolution.
A Democratic aide said Pelosi, who controls the House agenda, has no
plan to bring the proposal before the House soon. The aide spoke
anonymously because final plans have not been approved. A
congressional staff aide, also speaking without attribution, said it
is understood that Lantos, whose committee would deal with the
resolution, was awaiting word from Pelosi. Both the speaker and
Lantos have been supporters of the legislation. The dispute involves
the alleged deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians during the
waning years of the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of the Turkish
state. Armenian advocates contend they died in an organized genocide;
the Turks say they were victims of widespread chaos and governmental
breakdown as the 600-year-old empire collapsed in the years before
Turkey was born in 1923. The bipartisan resolution was introduced on
Jan. 30. Passage of the resolution would harm `U.S. efforts to
promote reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia and to advance
recognition by Turkey of the tragic events that occurred to ethnic
Armenians under the Ottoman Empire,' the letters said. They said the
United States is encouraging `our friends in Turkey to re-examine
their past with honesty and to reconcile with Armenia, as well as
security and stability in the broader Middle East and Europe.'
Rice and Gates reminded the lawmakers of repercussions from a vote in
the French National Assembly last October to criminalize denial of
Armenian genocide. `The Turkish military cut all contacts with the
French military and terminated defense contracts under negotiation,'
the letters said. Similar reaction against passage of the House
resolution `could harm American troops in the field, constrain our
ability to supply our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and
significantly damage our efforts to promote reconciliation between
Armenia and Turkey at a key turning point in their relations.'
Turkey has NATO's second-largest army. The U.S. Air Force has a major
base in southern Turkey near Iraq, which it has used for operations
in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Between the Persian Gulf War in
1991 and the Iraq war, warplanes from Incirlik Air Base enforced a
flight ban in Northern Iraq against the Iraqi air force.
March 16 2007
Rice, Gates: `genocide' bill may damage US security
By William C.Mann
WASHINGTON - The U.S. secretaries of state and defense contend that
the security of the United States is at risk from proposed
legislation that would declare Armenians victims of a genocide on
Turkish soil almost a century ago. In joint identical letters to the
speaker of the House of Representatives and two other senior members,
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert
Gates said the resolution also could inflict significant damage on
U.S. efforts to reconcile the long-standing dispute between the West
Asian neighbors.
The appeals went to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Rep. John
Boehner, leader of the House's Republican minority; and Rep. Tom
Lantos, the Democrat who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
`This is an incredibly sensitive issue inside Turkey, and what we are
trying to encourage the Turks to have is meaningful reform of their
dealings with Armenia,' retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Joseph Ralston,
former Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, told The Associated Press
in an interview Wednesday. `It has huge ramifications for the foreign
policy of this country.' The Associated Press obtained a copy of one
of the letters Wednesday. It was dated March 7, two days after
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian was in Washington to visit
Rice and said afterward that `Turkish lobbying at a government level'
threatened to scuttle the resolution.
A Democratic aide said Pelosi, who controls the House agenda, has no
plan to bring the proposal before the House soon. The aide spoke
anonymously because final plans have not been approved. A
congressional staff aide, also speaking without attribution, said it
is understood that Lantos, whose committee would deal with the
resolution, was awaiting word from Pelosi. Both the speaker and
Lantos have been supporters of the legislation. The dispute involves
the alleged deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians during the
waning years of the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of the Turkish
state. Armenian advocates contend they died in an organized genocide;
the Turks say they were victims of widespread chaos and governmental
breakdown as the 600-year-old empire collapsed in the years before
Turkey was born in 1923. The bipartisan resolution was introduced on
Jan. 30. Passage of the resolution would harm `U.S. efforts to
promote reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia and to advance
recognition by Turkey of the tragic events that occurred to ethnic
Armenians under the Ottoman Empire,' the letters said. They said the
United States is encouraging `our friends in Turkey to re-examine
their past with honesty and to reconcile with Armenia, as well as
security and stability in the broader Middle East and Europe.'
Rice and Gates reminded the lawmakers of repercussions from a vote in
the French National Assembly last October to criminalize denial of
Armenian genocide. `The Turkish military cut all contacts with the
French military and terminated defense contracts under negotiation,'
the letters said. Similar reaction against passage of the House
resolution `could harm American troops in the field, constrain our
ability to supply our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and
significantly damage our efforts to promote reconciliation between
Armenia and Turkey at a key turning point in their relations.'
Turkey has NATO's second-largest army. The U.S. Air Force has a major
base in southern Turkey near Iraq, which it has used for operations
in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Between the Persian Gulf War in
1991 and the Iraq war, warplanes from Incirlik Air Base enforced a
flight ban in Northern Iraq against the Iraqi air force.