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Armenia Rejects Turkish Warnings To U.S. Congress

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  • Armenia Rejects Turkish Warnings To U.S. Congress

    ARMENIA REJECTS TURKISH WARNINGS TO U.S. CONGRESS
    Emil Danielyan

    http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article /1972355.html
    02.03.2010

    Official Yerevan dismissed on Tuesday Turkish warnings that a U.S.

    congressional resolution describing the 1915 massacres of Armenians
    in the Ottoman Empire as genocide would set back the normalization
    of Turkish-Armenian relations. (UPDATED)

    It also emerged that a group of mostly pro-government Armenian
    parliamentarians is heading to Washington in an apparent effort to
    facilitate the passage of the resolution introduced by pro-Armenian
    U.S. legislators a year ago.

    The Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives is
    scheduled to discuss and vote on the proposed legislation on Thursday.

    It urges President Barack Obama to "accurately characterize the
    systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000 Armenians as
    genocide."

    The Turkish Foreign Ministry warned on Monday that its approval by
    the House committee would harm not only U.S.-Turkish relations but
    also efforts by Turkey and Armenia to normalize bilateral ties. "We
    would like to believe that the members of the committee are aware
    of the damage... the endorsement of the resolution will bring and,
    in this context, act responsibly," the ministry said in a statement.

    Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly issued a similar
    warning over the weekend. He said passage of the genocide resolution
    to would bring the U.S.-backed Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process
    to a halt.

    Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian brushed aside the warning,
    saying that the biggest threat to that process emanates from Ankara's
    "preconditions" for the implementation of the Turkish-Armenian
    normalization agreements which were set by Ankara months before the
    House panel scheduled a debate on the resolution.

    "It is statements made in Turkey and the return to the language
    of preconditions that deal a blow to the process of normalizing
    Turkish-Armenian relations," Nalbandian told a news conference. "We
    hope that Turkey will rid itself of artificial complexes created by
    the Turkish side and that we will be able to move forward in accordance
    with our understandings."

    Nalbandian stopped short of explicitly urging U.S. lawmakers
    to recognize what many historians consider the first genocide of
    the 20th century. But in a sign of Yerevan's tacit support for the
    resolution, four members of Armenia's parliament will fly to Washington
    on Wednesday at the invitation of Frank Pallone and Mark Kirk, the
    two U.S. lawmakers co-chairing the congressional Caucus on Armenian
    Issues. The bipartisan group, currently numbering 150 House members,
    has long been pushing for Armenian genocide recognition.

    An official in the National Assembly told RFE/RL's Armenian service
    that Pallone and Kirk asked their Armenian colleagues to "present
    their views on and approaches to issues of mutual interest" to U.S.

    legislators and foreign policy-makers. The genocide resolution will
    be the main focus of their meetings in Washington, said the official.

    A similar delegation of Turkish parliamentarians is already in
    Washington, meeting with U.S. officials and lobbying against the
    resolution. "My impression is that the (Obama) administration is not
    fighting against it very effectively," one of them, Sukru Elekdag,
    said on Monday, according to Reuters.

    Obama has so far declined to openly endorse or, as past U.S.

    administrations did, oppose the measure. The Associated Press cited
    aides to senior Democratic and Republican lawmakers on the House
    Foreign Affairs Committee as saying last week there has been no
    pressure against the resolution from the White House yet. According to
    a spokesman for the pro-Armenian committee chairman, Howard Berman, the
    Obama administration was informed about Thursday's vote ahead of time.

    Obama repeatedly pledged to recognize the Armenian genocide when he
    ran for president, earning the overwhelming backing of the Armenian
    Americans. However, he has refrained from using the word "genocide"
    since taking office, implicitly citing the need not to undermine the
    Turkish-Armenian rapprochement.

    "His view of that history has not changed," US National Security
    Council spokesman Mike Hammer said last week. "Our interest remains the
    achievement of a full, frank, and just acknowledgement of the facts."

    "The best way to advance that goal is for the Armenian and Turkish
    people to address the facts of the past as a part of their ongoing
    efforts to normalize relations," said Hammer. "We will continue to
    support these efforts vigorously in the months ahead."

    Some observers have speculated that Washington is using the prospect
    of U.S. recognition of the genocide to try to get the Turks to ratify
    the two Turkish-Armenian protocols signed in October. The Turkish
    ambassador to the United States, Namik Tan, seemed to give weight to
    this view on Saturday.

    "The greatest lobbyist in Washington is the administration," Tan said,
    according to the Associated Press. "We have not seen them around
    enough on this."

    Still, Erdogan expressed confidence on Tuesday that Obama will display
    "common sense" on the matter. Speaking before parliament deputies from
    his Justice and Development Party, he said he conveyed the Turkish
    concerns to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at their recent
    talks in Qatar.

    "I separately discussed with her what would be the cost of an adverse
    result from that," "Hurriyet Daily News" quoted the Turkish premier
    as saying. "I am calling on everyone once more to act with common
    sense. I'd like to say it would be more accurate to research genocide
    claims not at the House of Representatives but at universities and
    archives."
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