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Oct 5 2007
ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FRIED HOLDS A STATE DEPARTMENT
NEWS BRIEFING ON SECRETARY RICE'S UPCOMING TRIP TO MOSCOW
OCTOBER 5, 2007
SPEAKER: ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EUROPEAN AND
EURASIAN AFFAIRS DANIEL FRIED
[parts omitted]
QUESTION: They said both plans, as you know, for next week in the
Congress on the Armenian genocide resolution. All indications are
that that will make it through committee. What will the U.S. be --
what will the administration be saying to Turkey in the aftermath?
FRIED: The administration opposes House Resolution 106. And we think
it would do grave harm both to U.S. Turkish relations and to U.S.
interests including damage to -- it would hurt our forces deployed in
Iraq which rely on passage through Turkey. It would do far greater
harm than good. It would do nothing to advance Turkish- Armenian
reconciliation.
But more to the point, it is not simply this administration which
opposes this bill, but all former living secretaries of state have
written to Speaker Pelosi in opposition, including Madeleine
Albright, Warren Christopher, Colin Powell, Henry Kissinger, James
Baker, Alexander Haig, George Schultz, Larry Eagleburger. They have
all expressed the view that this resolution could, and I quote,
"endanger our national security interests in the region including the
safety of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Now, no one, neither the former secretaries nor the administration,
denies that a terrible and inexcusable tragedy of mass killings and
forced exile befell innocent Armenians in the late -- in the last
years of the Ottoman Empire, in 1915 and after. Those are historical
facts. Up to a million and a half people were killed or forced into
exile. The United States has recognized this. President Bush, like
President Clinton before him, has formally recognized it in annual
statements on Armenian Remembrance Day on April 24th.
So the administration does not deny anything. We do not deny
anything.
But we do not believe that this bill would advance either the cause
of historical truth or Turkish-Armenian reconciliation or the
interests of the United States. And we oppose it.
QUESTION: That statement seems to presume that Turkey will retaliate
by restricting some sort of access to Iraq by saying that this would
harm U.S. troops.
Do you presume that?
FRIED: I don't want to discuss a possible Turkish reaction to a bill
that I hope doesn't pass.
But it is true that the Turkish reaction would be extremely strong.
It has been strong when such resolutions have passed before. And we
have to be mindful of how much we depend and how much our troops and
the Iraqi economy depends on shipments from and to Turkey.
Oct 5 2007
ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FRIED HOLDS A STATE DEPARTMENT
NEWS BRIEFING ON SECRETARY RICE'S UPCOMING TRIP TO MOSCOW
OCTOBER 5, 2007
SPEAKER: ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EUROPEAN AND
EURASIAN AFFAIRS DANIEL FRIED
[parts omitted]
QUESTION: They said both plans, as you know, for next week in the
Congress on the Armenian genocide resolution. All indications are
that that will make it through committee. What will the U.S. be --
what will the administration be saying to Turkey in the aftermath?
FRIED: The administration opposes House Resolution 106. And we think
it would do grave harm both to U.S. Turkish relations and to U.S.
interests including damage to -- it would hurt our forces deployed in
Iraq which rely on passage through Turkey. It would do far greater
harm than good. It would do nothing to advance Turkish- Armenian
reconciliation.
But more to the point, it is not simply this administration which
opposes this bill, but all former living secretaries of state have
written to Speaker Pelosi in opposition, including Madeleine
Albright, Warren Christopher, Colin Powell, Henry Kissinger, James
Baker, Alexander Haig, George Schultz, Larry Eagleburger. They have
all expressed the view that this resolution could, and I quote,
"endanger our national security interests in the region including the
safety of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Now, no one, neither the former secretaries nor the administration,
denies that a terrible and inexcusable tragedy of mass killings and
forced exile befell innocent Armenians in the late -- in the last
years of the Ottoman Empire, in 1915 and after. Those are historical
facts. Up to a million and a half people were killed or forced into
exile. The United States has recognized this. President Bush, like
President Clinton before him, has formally recognized it in annual
statements on Armenian Remembrance Day on April 24th.
So the administration does not deny anything. We do not deny
anything.
But we do not believe that this bill would advance either the cause
of historical truth or Turkish-Armenian reconciliation or the
interests of the United States. And we oppose it.
QUESTION: That statement seems to presume that Turkey will retaliate
by restricting some sort of access to Iraq by saying that this would
harm U.S. troops.
Do you presume that?
FRIED: I don't want to discuss a possible Turkish reaction to a bill
that I hope doesn't pass.
But it is true that the Turkish reaction would be extremely strong.
It has been strong when such resolutions have passed before. And we
have to be mindful of how much we depend and how much our troops and
the Iraqi economy depends on shipments from and to Turkey.