BUSH HAS NO PLAN TO PRESS HOUSE SPEAKER ON "GENOCIDE" RESOLUTION
Xinhua, China
Oct 15 2007
WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) — U.S. President George W. Bush has
no plan to call the House Speaker to cancel a vote on a resolution
branding the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks between 1915 and
1917 a genocide, a White House spokesman said on Monday.
"There should be no question of the president’s views on this issue
and the damage that this resolution could do to U.S. foreign policy
interests," White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto told
reporters aboard Air Force One.
But President Bush has no plan to urge Democratic House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi to drop the voting on the resolution, Fratto said.
The nonbinding resolution, which was approved by the House Foreign
Affairs Committee last week, is expected to be voted by the whole
House soon.
Armenians say more than 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a
systematic genocide in the hands of the Ottomans during World War I,
before modern Turkey was born in 1923. But Turkey insists the Armenians
were victims of widespread chaos and governmental breakdown as the
600 year-old empire collapsed in the years before1923.
Turkey condemned Thursday the U.S. House’s "genocide" bill and recalled
its ambassador to Washington back to Turkey for consultation over
the matter, a sign of exasperated tension between the United State
and Turkey over the issue.
The U.S. government expressed hope for Turkish ambassador’s return
"to work to maintain strong U.S.-Turkish relations."
Meanwhile, the White House has been intensely lobbying lawmakers to
reject the resolution, which Bush believes would harm relations with
Turkey, especially the partnership in the anti-terror war.
Fratto said the White House does not want Pelosi to bring it to the
floor but if it comes to a vote, "we will strongly encourage members
not to support it."