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TURKEY WARNS U.S. OVER ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 9 2007
ANKARA, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - Turkey warned the United States Tuesday
that bilateral ties will suffer badly if US lawmakers adopt a bill
recognizing the Ottoman massacres of Armenians as genocide.
In a letter to his US counterpart George W. Bush, new Turkish President
Abdullah Gul "drew attention to the serious problems that will emerge
in bilateral relations if the bill is adopted," his office said in
a statement.
A senior member of the ruling Justice and Development Party has
signaled that Ankara could consider barring the United States from a
key military base in southern Turkey, which US troops currently use
to transport non-combat material to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Both countries are NATO members, though US operations in Iraq are
conducted outside of the transatlantic alliance.
The US House Foreign Affairs Committee is expected to debate the
genocide bill on Wednesday and if it is approved, Speaker Nancy Pelosi
could put it to a vote.
The White House, wary of the bill's likely impact on ties with a key
Muslim ally, has opposed the text. The Democrat-controlled Congress
is expected to give it strong backing, however.
A similar draft to the resolution before Congress was withdrawn from
the House floor in October 2000 after then president Bill Clinton
intervened.
Each year Armenians commemorate the massacres Bush has issued
statements showing his support, though he has stopped short of calling
them genocide.
Turkey categorically rejects claims by Armenians that 1.5 million of
them died in systematic deportations and killings during 1915-1917
as the Ottoman Empire was breaking up.
Several countries have recognized the killings as genocide, and Turkey
has responded by temporarily downgrading its political and economic
ties with some of them.
Turkey maintains that 300,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks
died in civil strife when Armenians took up arms for independence in
eastern Anatolia and sided with Russian troops invading the crumbling
Ottoman Empire during World War I.
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 9 2007
ANKARA, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - Turkey warned the United States Tuesday
that bilateral ties will suffer badly if US lawmakers adopt a bill
recognizing the Ottoman massacres of Armenians as genocide.
In a letter to his US counterpart George W. Bush, new Turkish President
Abdullah Gul "drew attention to the serious problems that will emerge
in bilateral relations if the bill is adopted," his office said in
a statement.
A senior member of the ruling Justice and Development Party has
signaled that Ankara could consider barring the United States from a
key military base in southern Turkey, which US troops currently use
to transport non-combat material to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Both countries are NATO members, though US operations in Iraq are
conducted outside of the transatlantic alliance.
The US House Foreign Affairs Committee is expected to debate the
genocide bill on Wednesday and if it is approved, Speaker Nancy Pelosi
could put it to a vote.
The White House, wary of the bill's likely impact on ties with a key
Muslim ally, has opposed the text. The Democrat-controlled Congress
is expected to give it strong backing, however.
A similar draft to the resolution before Congress was withdrawn from
the House floor in October 2000 after then president Bill Clinton
intervened.
Each year Armenians commemorate the massacres Bush has issued
statements showing his support, though he has stopped short of calling
them genocide.
Turkey categorically rejects claims by Armenians that 1.5 million of
them died in systematic deportations and killings during 1915-1917
as the Ottoman Empire was breaking up.
Several countries have recognized the killings as genocide, and Turkey
has responded by temporarily downgrading its political and economic
ties with some of them.
Turkey maintains that 300,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks
died in civil strife when Armenians took up arms for independence in
eastern Anatolia and sided with Russian troops invading the crumbling
Ottoman Empire during World War I.