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ARMENIAN KILLINGS CALLED 'GENOCIDE' BY HOUSE PANEL
By Lisa Friedman, Washington Bureau
Los Angeles Daily News
Oct 11 2007
WASHINGTON - Casting aside threats of international retaliation by
Turkish officials, the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted Wednesday
to unconditionally declare the killing of thousands of Armenians in
the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I a "genocide."
The 27-21 vote came after more than four hours of searing debate
pitting calls for America to take a moral stand against the realpolitik
of offending Turkey, a major route for air cargo, fuel and other
supplies for U.S. troops in Iraq.
Turks, including three members of parliament who flew to Washington
for the hearing, looked on grimly as the vote tally was read.
Elderly Armenians, including a handful who lived through the massacres
of 1915-23, hugged one another, cheered and wept.
"It's personal for every Armenian. Almost all Armenians have been
affected in some way from the genocide that occurred," said Andrew
Kzirian of Glendale, in Washington to witness the vote.
Kzirian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of
America's Western Region, called the committee's vote a victory for
human rights.
"It shows that members of Congress are very concerned that genocides
stop occurring. The goal is not to let it happen again," he said.
The resolution now heads to the House floor, where it stands its
first real chance of getting a vote in decades. About 226 lawmakers
have co-sponsored the bill, and it is likely to pass if put to a vote.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has indicated she will move it - possibly
by Thanksgiving - despite unprecedented pressure from the Bush
administration, Turkish officials and many foreign-policy leaders,
including all eight living former secretaries of state.
In 2005, the same measure passed the committee by a wider margin, but
then-Republican leadership blocked it from coming to the House floor.
Lobbying intense
This year several lawmakers, including Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo.,
and Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the leading Republican on the
panel, changed their votes to oppose the measure.
"Part of the reason the fight was so intense this year is because the
Turkish lobby knew that (former House Speaker) Dennis Hastert would
never let it go to the floor," said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, the
bill's chief sponsor, who is no longer on the panel. "I was lobbying
members right up until the moment of the vote."
Every California lawmaker on the committee voted in favor of the
resolution, including Reps. Howard Berman, D-Van Nuys; Linda Sanchez,
D-Lakewood; Diane Watson, D-Los Angeles; Elton Gallegly, R-Thousand
Oaks; Ed Royce, R-Fullerton; Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach/Long
Beach; and Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks.
L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa hailed the committee vote and condemned
President George W. Bush for urging Congress to reject it.
"We must never - for any reason - seek to clothe the horror of ethnic
cleansing in bureaucratic euphemisms," Villaraigosa said in a written
statement.
Armenian activists and most historians maintain that 1.5 million
Armenians were deported en masse from their homes in what is now
modern-day Turkey and slaughtered, and their property was confiscated,
as part of a systematic genocide.
Label offends Turks
Turkey acknowledges atrocities were committed in the bloody aftermath
of World War I, but strongly opposes the genocide label.
Turkish officials say about 300,000 Armenians were killed when they
joined forces with French and Russian soldiers to take up arms against
Turks. No lawmakers made that argument Wednesday, however.
Even those who voted against the resolution flatly declared that the
historical facts point to genocide, but said they were voting based
on America's national security interests.
"There was indeed a genocide of the Armenians, and it will not be
forgotten," said Rep. Michael Pence, R-Indiana, who called his vote
against the resolution "gut-wrenching."
Invoking the biblical saying that to everything there is a season,
Pence said Congress should not vote on the bill while U.S. troops
are at war in Iraq. "This is a season that calls for standing with
our troops first," he said.
Rep. Dan Burton, R-Indiana, took the strongest stand against the
resolution and noted that 70 percent of supplies to U.S. troops
currently travel through Turkey.
"The stability of the entire Middle East could be at risk," he
warned. "Why are we kicking the one ally that is helping us in
the face?"
Turkey has raised the possibility of blocking U.S. access to airfields
and roads if Congress passes the resolution.
Pressure in Turkey
Egemen Bagis, a member of the Turkish Parliament who attended the
hearing, predicted that Turkish lawmakers would face intense political
pressure from their own constituents to retaliate.
"No political party can ignore the public pressure. Turkey will have
to show a reaction," he said.
But the open threats also angered a number of lawmakers, particularly
Californians who said they favor calling Turkey's bluff.
Rohrabacher said he was angry at "the audacity that some Turks have
to threaten to cut logistics to U.S. troops."
"Isn't it enough that hundreds of our service members may have died
because of Turkey's refusal to enter Iraq (in 2003)?" he said.
Sherman, who helped Schiff lead the fight for the bill, pointed out
that the U.S. annually argues for Turkey to gain full membership in
the European Union.
Sherman also noted that in 2003, the U.S. gave Turkey $3 billion,
which the nation leveraged into $8 billion in loan guarantees.
"We cannot provide genocide denial as one of the perks of friendship
with the United States," he said.
Others likened Wednesday's vote to one earlier this year urging the
Japanese government to apologize for the abuse of "comfort women"
held as sex slaves during World War II.
The Japanese government fought hard against the bill's passage and
threatened diplomatic retaliation, which lawmakers said has yet
to materialize.
Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, D-Glendale, said there is a direct
connection between Armenian genocide early in the 20th century and
the genocide today in Darfur.
"When we fail to appropriately respond with condemnation and punishment
of those committing genocide we invite the opportunity for future
genocide," he said. "House Resolution 106 is not about the Armenian
community but about whether America will continue to represent a
beacon of justice in the world."
For Dr. Armine Hacopian, a member of the Glendale Community College
Board of Trustees, the resolution strikes close to home.
"My father was orphaned when both of his parents were slaughtered in
front of him at the age of 6," said Hacopian. "It impacted his life and
my family's life. He is no longer alive, and it's a shame that a lot of
survivors have passed away and have not lived to see this justice done.
"It's important that this be recognized because when you recognize
genocide, it keeps it from repeating itself. We have to take a
moral stand."
In the end, many lawmakers acknowledged that Wednesday's vote was an
emotional one.
Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., pointed to a handful of survivors, some
more than 100 years old, waiting to hear the panel's verdict on
their history.
"What time can they come back?" Ackerman asked, adding, "Truth never
goes out of season."
By Lisa Friedman, Washington Bureau
Los Angeles Daily News
Oct 11 2007
WASHINGTON - Casting aside threats of international retaliation by
Turkish officials, the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted Wednesday
to unconditionally declare the killing of thousands of Armenians in
the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I a "genocide."
The 27-21 vote came after more than four hours of searing debate
pitting calls for America to take a moral stand against the realpolitik
of offending Turkey, a major route for air cargo, fuel and other
supplies for U.S. troops in Iraq.
Turks, including three members of parliament who flew to Washington
for the hearing, looked on grimly as the vote tally was read.
Elderly Armenians, including a handful who lived through the massacres
of 1915-23, hugged one another, cheered and wept.
"It's personal for every Armenian. Almost all Armenians have been
affected in some way from the genocide that occurred," said Andrew
Kzirian of Glendale, in Washington to witness the vote.
Kzirian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of
America's Western Region, called the committee's vote a victory for
human rights.
"It shows that members of Congress are very concerned that genocides
stop occurring. The goal is not to let it happen again," he said.
The resolution now heads to the House floor, where it stands its
first real chance of getting a vote in decades. About 226 lawmakers
have co-sponsored the bill, and it is likely to pass if put to a vote.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has indicated she will move it - possibly
by Thanksgiving - despite unprecedented pressure from the Bush
administration, Turkish officials and many foreign-policy leaders,
including all eight living former secretaries of state.
In 2005, the same measure passed the committee by a wider margin, but
then-Republican leadership blocked it from coming to the House floor.
Lobbying intense
This year several lawmakers, including Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo.,
and Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the leading Republican on the
panel, changed their votes to oppose the measure.
"Part of the reason the fight was so intense this year is because the
Turkish lobby knew that (former House Speaker) Dennis Hastert would
never let it go to the floor," said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, the
bill's chief sponsor, who is no longer on the panel. "I was lobbying
members right up until the moment of the vote."
Every California lawmaker on the committee voted in favor of the
resolution, including Reps. Howard Berman, D-Van Nuys; Linda Sanchez,
D-Lakewood; Diane Watson, D-Los Angeles; Elton Gallegly, R-Thousand
Oaks; Ed Royce, R-Fullerton; Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach/Long
Beach; and Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks.
L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa hailed the committee vote and condemned
President George W. Bush for urging Congress to reject it.
"We must never - for any reason - seek to clothe the horror of ethnic
cleansing in bureaucratic euphemisms," Villaraigosa said in a written
statement.
Armenian activists and most historians maintain that 1.5 million
Armenians were deported en masse from their homes in what is now
modern-day Turkey and slaughtered, and their property was confiscated,
as part of a systematic genocide.
Label offends Turks
Turkey acknowledges atrocities were committed in the bloody aftermath
of World War I, but strongly opposes the genocide label.
Turkish officials say about 300,000 Armenians were killed when they
joined forces with French and Russian soldiers to take up arms against
Turks. No lawmakers made that argument Wednesday, however.
Even those who voted against the resolution flatly declared that the
historical facts point to genocide, but said they were voting based
on America's national security interests.
"There was indeed a genocide of the Armenians, and it will not be
forgotten," said Rep. Michael Pence, R-Indiana, who called his vote
against the resolution "gut-wrenching."
Invoking the biblical saying that to everything there is a season,
Pence said Congress should not vote on the bill while U.S. troops
are at war in Iraq. "This is a season that calls for standing with
our troops first," he said.
Rep. Dan Burton, R-Indiana, took the strongest stand against the
resolution and noted that 70 percent of supplies to U.S. troops
currently travel through Turkey.
"The stability of the entire Middle East could be at risk," he
warned. "Why are we kicking the one ally that is helping us in
the face?"
Turkey has raised the possibility of blocking U.S. access to airfields
and roads if Congress passes the resolution.
Pressure in Turkey
Egemen Bagis, a member of the Turkish Parliament who attended the
hearing, predicted that Turkish lawmakers would face intense political
pressure from their own constituents to retaliate.
"No political party can ignore the public pressure. Turkey will have
to show a reaction," he said.
But the open threats also angered a number of lawmakers, particularly
Californians who said they favor calling Turkey's bluff.
Rohrabacher said he was angry at "the audacity that some Turks have
to threaten to cut logistics to U.S. troops."
"Isn't it enough that hundreds of our service members may have died
because of Turkey's refusal to enter Iraq (in 2003)?" he said.
Sherman, who helped Schiff lead the fight for the bill, pointed out
that the U.S. annually argues for Turkey to gain full membership in
the European Union.
Sherman also noted that in 2003, the U.S. gave Turkey $3 billion,
which the nation leveraged into $8 billion in loan guarantees.
"We cannot provide genocide denial as one of the perks of friendship
with the United States," he said.
Others likened Wednesday's vote to one earlier this year urging the
Japanese government to apologize for the abuse of "comfort women"
held as sex slaves during World War II.
The Japanese government fought hard against the bill's passage and
threatened diplomatic retaliation, which lawmakers said has yet
to materialize.
Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, D-Glendale, said there is a direct
connection between Armenian genocide early in the 20th century and
the genocide today in Darfur.
"When we fail to appropriately respond with condemnation and punishment
of those committing genocide we invite the opportunity for future
genocide," he said. "House Resolution 106 is not about the Armenian
community but about whether America will continue to represent a
beacon of justice in the world."
For Dr. Armine Hacopian, a member of the Glendale Community College
Board of Trustees, the resolution strikes close to home.
"My father was orphaned when both of his parents were slaughtered in
front of him at the age of 6," said Hacopian. "It impacted his life and
my family's life. He is no longer alive, and it's a shame that a lot of
survivors have passed away and have not lived to see this justice done.
"It's important that this be recognized because when you recognize
genocide, it keeps it from repeating itself. We have to take a
moral stand."
In the end, many lawmakers acknowledged that Wednesday's vote was an
emotional one.
Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., pointed to a handful of survivors, some
more than 100 years old, waiting to hear the panel's verdict on
their history.
"What time can they come back?" Ackerman asked, adding, "Truth never
goes out of season."