Associated Press
Oct 5 2007
Turkish PM tells Bush that congressional resolution on Armenian
genocide will hurt relations
© AP
2007-10-05 18:44:30 –
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) – Turkey’s prime minister told U.S. President
George W. Bush on Friday that passage of a resolution in the U.S.
Congress declaring the World War I-era killings of Armenians was
genocide will harm Turkey’s ties with America, a government official
said.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Bush by telephone that the
measure _ which is expected to advance in the opposition
Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives next week _ will
«harm the strategic partnership» between the two countries, state-run
media reported. A government official confirmed the report but
declined to be named because he was not allowed to speak with
journalists.
The Bush administration opposes the measure. The U.S. president told
Erdogan on Friday that he is concerned about it and that his
administration has been trying to thwart it, the official confirmed.
The U.S. House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee
announced on Tuesday that it would consider the resolution, which has
no binding effect on U.S. foreign policy. Turkish officials have
repeatedly said it would harm already strained relations among the
NATO allies.
Turkey has been a generally reliable partner for Washington in its
fight against terrorism.
It supports U.S. operations in Afghanistan and Iraq through the
Incirlik Air Base in the southern part of the country, one of the
most important U.S. military bases in the region.
But bilateral relations soured over Turkish Parliament’s refusal to
station American troops in Turkey before the war in Iraq started.
Erdogan told Bush that Turkish proposal to establish an international
commission of experts to examine Armenian and Turkish archives is
still in effect, the official said.
Armenians say more than 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a
systematic genocide before modern Turkey was born in 1923.
Turkey says the death toll is inflated and that the deaths occurred
at a time of civil unrest.
Public opinion polls show that the United States has become widely
unpopular in Turkey because of opposition to U.S. policy in Iraq.
After France voted last year to make denial of Armenian genocide a
crime, the Turkish government ended military ties. A similar move
with the United States could have drastic repercussions on operations
in Iraq and Afghanistan, which rely heavily on Turkish support.