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US Lawmakers May Vote On Armenian Genocide Measure

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  • US Lawmakers May Vote On Armenian Genocide Measure

    US LAWMAKERS MAY VOTE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MEASURE

    TMCnet News
    http://topnews360.tmcnet.com/topics/associated-press/articles/2010/12/21/128501-us-lawmakers-may-vote-armenian-genocide-measure.htm
    Dec 21 2010

    WASHINGTON (AP) - The House may vote next week on a measure that
    could damage U.S. relations with critical ally Turkey: a resolution
    declaring the World War I-era killings of Armenians a genocide.

    The vote would be a blow to President Barack Obama by his Democratic
    allies. House Democratic leaders had long set aside consideration
    of the draft resolution, and the measure was expected to expire as
    a new Republican-led House takes office next month.

    House aides, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not
    authorized to comment, said Friday that Democratic leaders have been
    discussing a possible vote with lawmakers. A spokesman for Speaker
    Nancy Pelosi had no immediate comment.

    Turkey has said frequently that the resolution would drive a wedge
    in its relations with the United States. It sees the measure as a
    historical affront. In March after the House Foreign Affairs Committee
    endorsed the proposed resolution, Turkey withdrew its ambassador
    from Washington.

    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 scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey denies
    that the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has been inflated
    and those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.

    The issue is awkward for Obama, who pledged as a presidential candidate
    to recognize the Armenian deaths as genocide. The administration
    reversed course, as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
    acknowledged Thursday.

    Turkey, a NATO ally with a pivotal role for U.S. interests in the
    Middle East and Afghanistan, has warned that the resolution's approval
    could jeopardize U.S-Turkish cooperation and set back negotiations
    aimed at opening the border between Turkey and Armenia. Turkey also
    currently holds one of the rotating seats in the United Nations'
    Security Council that will have to approve sanctions against Iran.

    Armenian American groups have sought congressional affirmation of
    the killings as genocide for decades.

    "We continue to look to the House Democratic leadership to schedule a
    vote allowing a bipartisan majority to vote for the Armenian Genocide
    Resolution," Aram Hamparian, the executive director of the Armenian
    National Committee of America, said Friday in a statement.

    Opponents of the treaty, including the Turkish government, have begun
    ramping up their lobbying as it became clear that a vote might be in
    the works shortly before Democrats hand over leadership of the House
    to Republicans next month.

    "We are very concerned that there is a backroom deal going on led by
    the Democratic leadership to sneak the Armenian resolution through
    in the final hours of the 111th Congress," said G. Lincoln McCurdy,
    president of the Turkish Coalition of America.

    The Foreign Affairs Committee approved a similar genocide measure in
    2007, but it was not brought to the House floor for a vote following
    intensive pressure by then-President George W. Bush.




    From: A. Papazian
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