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BAKU: Turkey Seeks To Avert Genocide Vote In US Congress

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  • BAKU: Turkey Seeks To Avert Genocide Vote In US Congress

    TURKEY SEEKS TO AVERT GENOCIDE VOTE IN US CONGRESS

    APA
    March 4 2010
    Azerbaijan

    Baku - APA. Turkey's foreign minister said Wednesday he hopes the
    Obama administration will try to prevent a U.S. congressional panel
    from recognizing the World War I-era killings of Armenians by Ottoman
    Turks as genocide, APA reports quoting Associated Press.

    Ahmet Davutoglu told Turkish reporters during a visit to Egypt that
    he expects "the U.S. administration to give the necessary message"
    to the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee,
    according to the state-run Anatolia news agency.

    "If it passes, then the Obama administration should try to prevent
    it from being voted by Congress," Anatolia quoted Davutoglu as saying.

    The House committee is set to consider the issue Thursday. A "yes"
    vote would allow the resolution to be considered by the full House.

    Historians estimate up to 1.5 million Armenians were victims of
    genocide by Ottoman Turks. Turkey denies that.

    Past U.S. administrations have blocked similar resolutions
    through public cajoling about U.S. national security interests and
    behind-the-scenes lobbying. The Obama administration, however, has
    not taken any public position on the issue so far.

    Turkey warned this week that recognition of the killings as genocide
    would not only damage ties with its longtime U.S. ally but also hurt
    U.S.-led efforts to end a century of enmity between Turkey and Armenia.

    Turkey, NATO's only Muslim member, is a key supply route for U.S.

    troops in Iraq and part of the U.S.-led coalition forces in
    Afghanistan.

    Turkey and Armenia last year took steps to normalize ties by
    establishing diplomatic relations and reopening their shared border.

    The agreements still need to be ratified by both countries'
    parliaments, and it is unclear how they would resolve the bitter
    dispute over the Armenian deaths.

    Turkey acknowledges that many Armenians were killed around World War
    I, but denies that the deaths constituted genocide. Turkey says the
    death toll has been inflated and that those killed were victims of
    civil war and unrest.

    Davutoglu did not respond to a question on what actions Turkey would
    take should the resolution be approved.

    In 2007, when the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee passed such
    a resolution, Turkey promptly recalled its ambassador, and U.S.

    officials feared the Turks might cut off American access to a Turkish
    air base essential to operations in Iraq. After intensive lobbying by
    top Bush administration officials, the resolution was not considered
    by the full House.
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