BUSH URGES ‘NO’ VOTE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL
By Johanna Neuman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Los Angeles Times, CA
Oct 10 2007
The administration, while acknowledging the tragedy in which 1.5
million were killed, says the resolution in Congress would damage
relations with key ally Turkey.
WASHINGTON — President Bush and top administration officials urged
Congress today to reject a bill that would recognize as "genocide"
the World War I-era slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians.
With a showdown on the bill scheduled later today in the House Foreign
Affairs Committee, Bush warned that passage could damage U.S.
relations with Turkey, a key ally in the war against terrorism.
"Its passage would do great harm to our relations with a key ally in
NATO and in the global war on terror," Bush said on the south lawn
of the White House. "We all deeply regret the tragic suffering of
the Armenian people," he said, adding: "This resolution is not the
right response to these mass killings."
The contentious issue has been simmering in Congress for years, as
Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), whose district includes more Armenian
Americans than any other, has lobbied for the bill’s passage. This
year, he has collected more than half the House’s 435 members to his
side — including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), who
has vowed to bring the bill to the floor for a vote for the first time.
The resolution calls on the president to ensure that U.S. foreign
policy "reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity" to the
issue and to use the word "genocide" in his annual April message
about the killings.
Turkey denies that the killings amounted to genocide, saying that
Armenians and Turks alike were killed in ethnic clashes after World
War I. Turkey, a NATO ally, has threatened to cut off cooperation with
the United States on a number of security fronts if the resolution
is passed. The country has unleashed a powerful lobbying force,
including former House Speaker Bob Livingston (R-La.), to defeat
the measure. The bill faces a tougher road in the 100-seat Senate,
where Sen. Richard Durbin J. (D-Ill.) has attracted 32 co-sponsors.
In speaking to reporters against the measure, administration
officials went out of their way today to recognize the Armenian
slaughter. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the opposition
stemmed from the danger to U.S. security interests, "not because the
U.S. fails to recognize the terrible tragedy of 1915." She added that
"the passage of this resolution at this time would be very problematic
for everything we are trying to do in the Middle East."
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said that about a third of the
fuel used by the U.S. military in Iraq went through Turkey, along
with many of its planes. Access to airfields and roads "would very
much be put at risk if this resolution passes and Turkey reacts as
strongly as we believe they will," he said.