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BUSH WARNS CONGRESS NOT TO RECOGNISE ARMENIAN 'GENOCIDE'
The Guardian
Oct 10 2007
UK
A US Congress bill on the 1915 Armenian 'genocide' has angered Turks.
President George Bush today urged members of Congress to reject a
congressional resolution recognising the killings of Armenians in 1915
as "genocide", warning that it would damage US relations with Turkey.
The resolution would do "great harm" to relations, the president told
reporters at the White House. He said: "This resolution is not the
right response to these historic mass killings."
His comments followed a similar joint appeal from the US secretary
of state, Condoleezza Rice, and the defence secretary, Robert Gates.
The intense White House lobbying campaign came just hours before the
House of Representatives foreign affairs committee met to vote on
the resolution.
Turkish politicians have warned that passage of the bill to a full
vote in the House could severely damage diplomatic ties.
Ms Rice said the legislation could provoke Turkey, a key Nato ally
in the Middle East, to withdraw its cooperation with the US on Iraq.
"The passage of this resolution at this time would be very problematic
for everything we are trying to do in the Middle East," she said.
Mr Gates said 70% of US air cargo destined for Iraq goes through
Turkey, as does about one-third of the fuel used by the US military
in Iraq.
"Access to airfields and to the roads and so on in Turkey would very
much be put at risk if this resolution passes and Turkey reacts as
strongly as we believe they will," he said.
The Turkish president, Abdullah Gul, yesterday warned of "serious
troubles in the two countries' relations" if the measure is approved.
The threats come as the Turkish government seeks parliamentary approval
for a cross-border military operation to pursue separatist Kurdish
rebels in northern Iraq. The move, which is opposed by the US, could
open a new front in the most stable part of Iraq.
Turkish MPs in Washington yesterday put their case to members of the
House of Representatives' foreign affairs committee.
"I have been trying to warn the lawmakers not to make a historic
mistake," said Egemen Bagis, a Turkish MP and close foreign policy
adviser to the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Many in the US fear for the crucial supply routes through Turkey to
Iraq and Afghanistan, and the closure of Incirlik, a strategic air
base in Turkey used by the US air force.
A measure of the potential fallout from the vote came in a warning
to American citizens in Ankara issued by the US embassy there.
The statement said: "If, despite the administration's concerted efforts
against this resolution, it passes committee and makes its way to the
floor of the House for debate and a possible vote, there could be a
reaction in the form of demonstrations and other manifestations of
anti-Americanism throughout Turkey."
The genocide label is a sensitive issue in Turkey, which has long
claimed that mass killings, plus famine and disease, were part of
the civil upheavals accompanying the collapse of the Ottoman empire.
Armenians and most western historians believe the events of 1915
were state-sponsored genocide. Estimates of the death toll range up
to 1.5 million people.
Ankara cut military ties with Paris last year when France voted to
make it a crime to deny the killings as genocide.
The US bill appears to have a thin majority on the foreign affairs
committee. But some supporters fear that Turkish pressure could narrow
the margin further. Most Republicans are expected to vote against.
Yesterday Bryan Ardouny, the executive director of the Armenian
Assembly of America, sought to shore up support in letters to the
committee's chairman, the Democratic representative, Tom Lantos,
of California, and the committee's leading Republican member, Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen, of Florida.
"We have a unique opportunity in this Congress, while there are still
survivors of the Armenian genocide living among us, to irrevocably
and unequivocally reaffirm this fact of history," he wrote.
But Mr Bagis said the resolution would make it hard for Ankara to
continue close cooperation with the US and resist calls from the
Turkish public to pursue Kurdish rebels over the border.
"If the Armenian genocide resolution passes, then I think that the
possibility of a cross-border operation is very high," said Ihsan Dagi,
a professor of international relations at the Middle East Technical
University in Ankara.
The Guardian
Oct 10 2007
UK
A US Congress bill on the 1915 Armenian 'genocide' has angered Turks.
President George Bush today urged members of Congress to reject a
congressional resolution recognising the killings of Armenians in 1915
as "genocide", warning that it would damage US relations with Turkey.
The resolution would do "great harm" to relations, the president told
reporters at the White House. He said: "This resolution is not the
right response to these historic mass killings."
His comments followed a similar joint appeal from the US secretary
of state, Condoleezza Rice, and the defence secretary, Robert Gates.
The intense White House lobbying campaign came just hours before the
House of Representatives foreign affairs committee met to vote on
the resolution.
Turkish politicians have warned that passage of the bill to a full
vote in the House could severely damage diplomatic ties.
Ms Rice said the legislation could provoke Turkey, a key Nato ally
in the Middle East, to withdraw its cooperation with the US on Iraq.
"The passage of this resolution at this time would be very problematic
for everything we are trying to do in the Middle East," she said.
Mr Gates said 70% of US air cargo destined for Iraq goes through
Turkey, as does about one-third of the fuel used by the US military
in Iraq.
"Access to airfields and to the roads and so on in Turkey would very
much be put at risk if this resolution passes and Turkey reacts as
strongly as we believe they will," he said.
The Turkish president, Abdullah Gul, yesterday warned of "serious
troubles in the two countries' relations" if the measure is approved.
The threats come as the Turkish government seeks parliamentary approval
for a cross-border military operation to pursue separatist Kurdish
rebels in northern Iraq. The move, which is opposed by the US, could
open a new front in the most stable part of Iraq.
Turkish MPs in Washington yesterday put their case to members of the
House of Representatives' foreign affairs committee.
"I have been trying to warn the lawmakers not to make a historic
mistake," said Egemen Bagis, a Turkish MP and close foreign policy
adviser to the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Many in the US fear for the crucial supply routes through Turkey to
Iraq and Afghanistan, and the closure of Incirlik, a strategic air
base in Turkey used by the US air force.
A measure of the potential fallout from the vote came in a warning
to American citizens in Ankara issued by the US embassy there.
The statement said: "If, despite the administration's concerted efforts
against this resolution, it passes committee and makes its way to the
floor of the House for debate and a possible vote, there could be a
reaction in the form of demonstrations and other manifestations of
anti-Americanism throughout Turkey."
The genocide label is a sensitive issue in Turkey, which has long
claimed that mass killings, plus famine and disease, were part of
the civil upheavals accompanying the collapse of the Ottoman empire.
Armenians and most western historians believe the events of 1915
were state-sponsored genocide. Estimates of the death toll range up
to 1.5 million people.
Ankara cut military ties with Paris last year when France voted to
make it a crime to deny the killings as genocide.
The US bill appears to have a thin majority on the foreign affairs
committee. But some supporters fear that Turkish pressure could narrow
the margin further. Most Republicans are expected to vote against.
Yesterday Bryan Ardouny, the executive director of the Armenian
Assembly of America, sought to shore up support in letters to the
committee's chairman, the Democratic representative, Tom Lantos,
of California, and the committee's leading Republican member, Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen, of Florida.
"We have a unique opportunity in this Congress, while there are still
survivors of the Armenian genocide living among us, to irrevocably
and unequivocally reaffirm this fact of history," he wrote.
But Mr Bagis said the resolution would make it hard for Ankara to
continue close cooperation with the US and resist calls from the
Turkish public to pursue Kurdish rebels over the border.
"If the Armenian genocide resolution passes, then I think that the
possibility of a cross-border operation is very high," said Ihsan Dagi,
a professor of international relations at the Middle East Technical
University in Ankara.