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  • Armenian Diplomacy's Task Is To Competently Bind Condemnation Of Arm

    ARMENIAN DIPLOMACY'S TASK IS TO COMPETENTLY BIND CONDEMNATION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE WITH KARABAKH CONFLICT RESOLUTION

    Karabakh Open
    Oct 6 2007

    Gordon Johndroe, a White House spokesman, said President Bush
    "reiterated his opposition to the Armenian Genocide resolution,
    the passage of which would be harmful to U.S. relations with Turkey."

    Johndroe said Bush believes the Armenian episode ranks among the
    greatest tragedies of the 20th century, but the determination whether
    "the events constitute a genocide should be a matter for historical
    inquiry, not legislation."

    Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by
    Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed
    by genocide scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century.

    Turkey denies that the deaths constituted genocide.

    At the U.S. State Department, the senior official who deals with
    Turkish relations said the United States position is not to deny or
    accept that genocide occurred. Nevertheless, Assistant Secretary of
    State Daniel Fried said, "We do not believe this bill would advance
    either the cause of historical truth or Turkish-Armenian reconciliation
    or the interests of the United States."

    The Turkish reaction to passage of the bill would be extremely strong,
    Fried said. It would do "grave harm" to relations with Turkey, a NATO
    ally, and damage the U.S. war effort in Iraq, Turkey's neighbor.

    The resolution is largely symbolic and would not be binding on
    foreign policy. Similar measures have been offered before and
    never passed, but it appears to have a good chance of passage in the
    Democratic-controlled House if it is brought to a vote, The Associated
    Press reports.

    The passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution in the U.S. Congress
    will irreparably damage the image of the United States and make the
    Jewish population a target of criticism in Turkey, Foreign Minister
    and Chief EU Negotiator Ali Babacan has said.

    "If it is passed, relations with the United States will undoubtedly
    be affected very negatively," Babacan said while en route to Turkey
    from a visit to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) on
    Thursday evening. "It will further damage the U.S. image in Turkey.

    We, as the government, can't prevent it no matter what we do."

    "Armenian and Jewish lobbies unite forces against Turks," he said.

    "We have told them that we cannot explain it to the public in Turkey
    if a road accident happens. We have told them that we cannot keep
    the Jewish people out of this."

    Babacan said there was a "problem of empathy" that prevents Western
    countries from understanding why the issue is a sensitive matter for
    Turkey. "They do not understand that this is execution without trial.

    They do not understand that 1915 is not a very old date and that
    they accuse the grandfathers of dozens of people in Turkey," he said,
    Zaman reports.

    "This has nothing to do with the current government or the Turkish
    public. This is for the tragic effort of Armenians, who we believe
    have experienced genocide. If we do not want to experience or witness
    such events again, we need to remember the dates of these events and
    we need to have them condemned worldwide," he said, Sabah reports.

    Turkey has numerously warned the U.S. that passage of the H.Res.106
    will cause a split in the Turkish-American relations.

    The U.S. House Foreign Relations Committee will hold a vote on the
    Armenian Genocide Resolution October 10. The House version of the
    Resolution, H.Res.106, was introduced January 30 by lead author Rep.

    Adam Schiff. It has 227 co-sponsors, PanARMENIAN.Net reported.

    The Armenian Genocide Resolution, H.Res.106, differs from the ones
    passed by the U.S. Congress in 1975 and 1984, director of the ARARAT
    Center for Strategic Research, Armen Ayvazyan told a news conference
    in Yerevan.

    "The resolution defines the timeline from 1915 to 1923 (not 1915 as
    it was before). It mentions the precise number of victims - 2 million
    deported people, 1.5 million of whom were slaughtered. Moreover,
    the resolution does mention that Armenians were killed in their
    historical homeland where they had lived for 2.500 years," he said.

    "Unfortunately, the process of recognition of the Armenian Genocide
    is viewed by the Armenian political class as a well-known game with
    a chamomile "loves me loves me not," he noted.

    Meanwhile, Armenia should measure the resolutions by its own criteria
    fitting both historical truth and national interests, according to him.

    Dr Ayvazyan pointed out to five criteria for assessment of resolutions
    of the kind: correct mention of timeline (1894-1923); obligatory
    mention of the fact that Armenians were annihilated in their homeland,
    Western Armenia; condemnation of the Ottoman Empire, as the perpetrator
    of this crime against humanity, and the Turkish Republic as denier of
    the Armenian Genocide; recognition of responsibility of the Turkish
    state to Armenia, as mouthpiece of interests of the Armenian nation;
    connection between the Armenian Genocide consequences with the current
    geopolitical situation in the region, specifically Armenia's security
    issue.

    "The point is that the Armenian Genocide had resulted in a grave
    territorial problem for Armenians, since the territory for their
    settlement had reduced to an extremely dangerous size. The problem
    of Artsakh liberation and security of Armenians of Javakhk should
    be considered from this angle. The task of Armenian diplomacy is
    to competently bind condemnation of Armenian Genocide with Karabakh
    conflict resolution," he said.

    The U.S. House Foreign Relations Committee will hold a vote on the
    Armenian Genocide Resolution October 10. The House version of the
    Resolution, H.Res.106, was introduced January 30 by lead author Rep.
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