US CONGRESS REVIVES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION
Aysor
March 4 2010
Armenia
Today, March 4, the U.S. Congress will hold vote on Resolution 252,
declaring that the 1915 massacres of more than a million Armenians
by Ottoman Turks was Genocide.
Issue of the Genocide, committed against Armenians by Turks, is some
kind of ‘real politic’ and is the international community’s choice
to suppress Turkey.
Some Turkish resources reported that ahead of the Congressional Panel
Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul had a conversation with U.S. President
Barack Obama on a phone and urged to call off the Resolution on
Genocide. He is reported said that the Resolution’s passage would
influence the U.S.-Turkey relations.
Meanwhile, a day before Congressional Panel’s working, a spokesperson
for the White House said that President Obama "consistently stated
his position on the events of 1915" and hasn’t changed it.
"Our interest remains the achievement of a full, frank and just
acknowledgment of the facts," Mike Hammer, spokesman for the National
Security Council, said in a statement. "We continue to believe that
the best way to advance that goal is for the Armenian and Turkish
people to address the facts of the past as a part of their ongoing
efforts to normalize relations."
Howard L. Berman, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee and is a
member of the U.S.-Turkey group of friendship, backs the resolution.
Berman himself survived the Holocaust, and for him it is a very
sensitive issue. He said believes that Turkey should be considered
with its own history.
Two Turkish delegations arrived in the U.S. to get in resolution
passage’s road. They have held a range of meetings with the U.S.
officials.
At the invitation of the resolution’s supporters Mark Kirk and Frank
Pallone Armenian delegation arrived in Washington.
Referring to the upcoming hearings at the Congress, the resolution’s
passage may be considered as a political decision showing that
Turkey will not enjoy confidence any more; while if it is called off,
then it will show that the Obama administration and Ankara have an
agreement to ratify Armenia-Turkey protocols by April (as 24 April
is a mourning day for the Genocide Victims of 1915).