H.RES 106 AFFIRMATION OF THE U.S. RECORD ON THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
US Fed News
January 9, 2008 Wednesday 6:06 AM EST
Washington
Rep. Dan L. Burton, R-Ind. (5th CD), issued the following blog entry:
October 10, 2007, (H.Res. 106) was brought before the House Committee
on Foreign Relations, which declared it to be the sense of the United
States House of Representatives that the deaths of approximately
1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923
was in fact genocide. The Committee voted 27 to 21 to approve the
resolution. I did not support this resolution and I have urged House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi not to bring the resolution before the full
House of Representatives for a vote. I am convinced that further
consideration of the resolution will seriously jeopardize United
States-Turkey relations and, currently, critical Turkish support
for United States troops fighting the Global War on Terror in Iraq
and Afghanistan. My opinion is shared by all eight living former
Secretaries of State, three former Secretaries of Defense, as well
as the current Secretaries of State and Defense. In fact, in 2000,
the last time this issue was debated before the then-House Committee
on International Relations, President Bill Clinton urged then-Speaker
Dennis Hastert, to refrain from bringing the issue to a vote because
it would irreparably damage our nations’ longstanding and deep ties
with Turkey.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan even publicly announced
before the vote that passage of H.Res. 106 would "significantly weaken"
relations and true to his prediction the Turkish Ambassador to the
United States was recalled less than 24 hours after the Committee
vote and Turkey’s Parliament moved to authorize Turkish military
action in northern Iraq against Kurdish terrorists – potentially
threatening our efforts to stabilize Iraq and bring our troops home.
Last October, the French National Assembly passed a bill that would
have criminalized denial of the so-called Armenian genocide. In
response, the government of Turkey severed all bilateral military and
defense ties with France. A similar reaction by the elected government
of Turkey to H.Res. 106 would have in my opinion, critically damaged
our ability to supply our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan by restricting
or ending our ability to use several key military and port facilities –
namely the Incirlik Airbase and the Habur Gate checkpoint.
There is no doubt that the Armenians suffered a "grave loss" during
the mass killings and forced exile which occurred during the late
Ottoman period. My heart goes out to the survivors of this enormous
tragedy and their families. I know that some people, particularly
Armenian-Americans, believe that my reasons for opposing H.Res. 106
are simply wrong. I believe that the actions of the Turkish government
since the Committee vote have proved otherwise.
Nevertheless, I fervently hope that supporters and opponents of
H.Res. 106 can eventually come together to depoliticize this issue and
support an Armenian-Turkish reconciliation process that responsibly
and accurately addresses the events of 1915 to 1923.