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Turkey
warns US over Armenia genocide resolution
Tuesday December 21, 2010 07:36:55 PM,
DPA
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Istanbul: The Turkish
government has warned US President Barack Obama that a
congressional vote on a resolution recognising the massacre of
Armenians during World War I as a "genocide" could severely damage
relations, the Turkish press reported Tuesday.
The US House of Representatives has tentatively planned a vote on
the resolution for Tuesday, just before the 111th congress
concludes. In March, the non-binding resolution was passed by a
23-22 vote in the House's Foreign Affairs Committee, a move Turkey
protested by withdrawing its ambassador to Washington for one
month.
Armenians contend that up to 1.5 million of their people were
systematically killed by the Ottoman Turks in 1915. The US has
approximately one million citizens of Armenian descent and the diaspora has rallied for recognition of the killings as a
"genocide".
Turkey has long denied the genocide claim, saying the number of
Armenians killed is much lower than claimed and that the deaths
were the result of intercommunal violence at the time that also
affected other ethnic groups.
The Turkish government and Turkish-American advocacy groups have
engaged in an intense lobbying effort to prevent the resolution
from going to a vote in the House.
On Monday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a
letter to Obama saying that the vote could cause a major rift in
relations, according to reports in the Turkish press. "We are
expecting that you will step in and intervene in Congress,"
Erdogan's letter reportedly said.
Although Turkey refuses to recognise the genocide claim, relations
between the current Turkish and Armenian governments have slightly
improved over the last couple of years.
In October 2009, the two governments signed accords to renew
diplomatic relations and open their border. However, neither
country has fully ratified the accords, and the process has
stalled.
Ankara has warned that the passing of the genocide resolution in
the US House could lead to a rupture in relations with Washington
and could harm the already tentative reconciliation process
between Turkey and Armenia.
The Obama administration has opposed the House resolution for the
same reasons.
In 2007, then president George W. Bush successfully pressured the
House not to bring a similar genocide resolution to a floor vote,
averting a diplomatic crisis between Turkey and the US.
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