Category: Armenian Question

ISTANBUL – A pro-Armenian U.S. lawmaker said Thursday that Congress is not likely to pass a bill recognizing the Armenian claims regarding the 1915 incidents in a bid to sooth Turkey’s concerns.

The resolution would not pass this year again, although there are high expectations this time as U.S. President Obama has promised to recognize the Armenian claims during election campaign, Republican congressman Mark Kirk, one of the four authors of the bill presented to the House of Representatives, told Turkey’s Aksam daily.   

“The expectations are high this year, because President Obama gave an important promise to Armenians. But I think the situation is desperate,” he said.

“Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi will not dare pass the bill. She will not place Obama in a difficult position. The bill will not pass, don’t worry,” he added. 

U.S. lawmakers introduced last month a resolution recognizing the Armenian claims regarding the 1915 incidents. The resolution, titled “The Affirmation of the U.S. Record on the Armenian Genocide,” has the support of 77 co-sponsors from both parties in the House of Representatives. 

Turkey has warned that the introduction of the resolution could harm both efforts to improve ties with Armenia and bilateral relations with the United States.

U.S. lawmakers almost passed a similar resolution two years ago, but congressional leaders did not bring it up for a vote after intense pressure from then-President George W. Bush and top members of his administration.

“Bill will pass eventually”

Kirk also told Aksam that if the promise given to Armenians is not fulfilled, Democrats may lose Congress elections in 2010.

The U.S. congressmen added he believed that Congress would eventually recognize the Armenian claims. 

Armenia, with the backing of the diaspora, claims up to 1.5 million of their kin were slaughtered in orchestrated killings in 1915.

Turkey rejects the claims saying that 300,000 Armenians, along with at least as many Turks, died in civil strife that emerged when Armenians took up arms, backed by Russia, for independence in eastern Anatolia.

Turkey has offered to form a joint commission to investigate what happened in 1915 and opened up all official archives, but Armenia has continued to drag its feet on accepting the offer.

By Bridget Johnson
Posted: 04/01/09 02:46 PM [ET]

A new report warns President Obama that recognizing the World War I-era killings of Armenians as genocide — or not lobbying Congress to ditch a bill recognizing as much — would be a bad foreign-policy move.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) report released this week studies the future of U.S. relations with Turkey, in advance of Obama’s visit to the predominantly Muslim nation next Monday and Tuesday.

“A near-term uncertainty in the [American-Turkish] relationship is the ‘Armenian genocide resolution,’ ” the report states. “If President Obama takes no action to prevent congressional enactment of the resolution … endorses the measure, or uses the word genocide himself, the Turkish response will be harsh and trigger a bitter breach in relations.”

The resolution, introduced March 17 by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) with 77 co-sponsors, now has 88 co-sponsors and has been referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Rep. Gresham Barrett (R-S.C.), a co-sponsor on the day of the bill’s introduction, withdrew his sponsorship on March 23.

The contentious resolution calls the deaths of as many as 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire starting in 1915 “genocide.” Turkey blames the deaths on civil upheaval toward the end of and directly after World War I, saying that 300,000 Armenians were killed, and at least as many Turks.

In a January 2008 campaign statement, Obama vowed to back such a resolution if elected.

“The facts are undeniable,” Obama said. “An official policy that calls on diplomats to distort the historical facts is an untenable policy. As a senator, I strongly support passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution … and as president I will recognize the Armenian Genocide.”

The CSIS report, introduced Monday by Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Scowcroft, says, “Rather than seek to legislate history, the United States and the international community should provide maximum encouragement and support to the diplomatic rapprochement being pursued by the governments of Turkey and Armenia, as well as to emerging regional cooperation.”

The report calls the bill “of foremost concern in bilateral relations,” and said the issue has been “hanging like the sword of Damocles over the relationship for 20 years.”

It adds that “there seems to be a real danger of either the White House refraining from lobbying against the resolution and thus permitting its passage or of a direct acknowledgement through a presidential statement.”

Armenian leaders have expressed hope that Obama will follow through on that pledge. The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is encouraging its website visitors to lobby their legislators to support the bill.

Aram Hamparian, executive director of ANCA, questioned whether CSIS was receiving foreign funding that may have influenced its report. “The best way to understand where CSIS is coming from is to understand where their money comes from,” he said.

“We’re confident that President Obama is a man of his word,” Hamparian said. “We look forward to him honoring his pledge.”

Source: thehill.com, 04/01/09