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US DEMOCRATS PRESS ON WITH GENOCIDE BILL AMID TURKISH FURY
Peninsula On-line, Qatar
Source: Agencies
Oct 15 2007
Washington ~U Top US Democrats yesterday brushed off Turkish fury and
vowed to press ahead bill condemning the mass killing of Armenians
decades ago as 'genocide', insisting that bloodshed today demanded
a righting of past wrongs. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy
Pelosi said possible reprisals affecting Turkey's cooperation
with the US military were 'hypothetical' and would not derail the
resolution. Holding a vote on condemning the massacre, even many years
after the fact, is "about who we are as a country," Pelosi told ABC
television. "Genocide still exists, and we saw it in Rwanda; we see
it now in Darfur," she said on ABC television after the House foreign
affairs committee last week branded the Ottoman Empire's World War
I massacre of Armenians a genocide. According to Armenians, at least
1.5 million Armenians were killed from 1915 to 1917 under an Ottoman
Empire campaign of deportation and murder. Turkey bitterly disputes
the number of dead and the characterisation of "genocide".
The bill is likely to come up in the full House in November. Although
the resolution is only symbolic, Turkey recalled its ambassador
to Washington last week and has called off visits to the United
States by at least two of its officials. US-Turkish military ties
"will never be the same again" if the House confirms the committee
vote, Turkey's military chief General Yasar Buyukanit told the daily
Milliyet yesterday.
Peninsula On-line, Qatar
Source: Agencies
Oct 15 2007
Washington ~U Top US Democrats yesterday brushed off Turkish fury and
vowed to press ahead bill condemning the mass killing of Armenians
decades ago as 'genocide', insisting that bloodshed today demanded
a righting of past wrongs. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy
Pelosi said possible reprisals affecting Turkey's cooperation
with the US military were 'hypothetical' and would not derail the
resolution. Holding a vote on condemning the massacre, even many years
after the fact, is "about who we are as a country," Pelosi told ABC
television. "Genocide still exists, and we saw it in Rwanda; we see
it now in Darfur," she said on ABC television after the House foreign
affairs committee last week branded the Ottoman Empire's World War
I massacre of Armenians a genocide. According to Armenians, at least
1.5 million Armenians were killed from 1915 to 1917 under an Ottoman
Empire campaign of deportation and murder. Turkey bitterly disputes
the number of dead and the characterisation of "genocide".
The bill is likely to come up in the full House in November. Although
the resolution is only symbolic, Turkey recalled its ambassador
to Washington last week and has called off visits to the United
States by at least two of its officials. US-Turkish military ties
"will never be the same again" if the House confirms the committee
vote, Turkey's military chief General Yasar Buyukanit told the daily
Milliyet yesterday.