Hurriyet, Turkey
March 19 2010
Berman’s Armenia remarks become Washington mystery
Friday, March 19, 2010
ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News
Remarks supposedly made by a U.S. congressman that a recent committee
vote on Armenian `genocide’ claims will go no further turned into a
minor Washington "whodunnit?" Friday.
Did the chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, Howard
Berman, promise colleague Virginia Foxx, who heads the congressional
Turkish caucus, that the bill would not move to the full House? Foxx
said he did. Berman said he did not, denying a conversation on the
matter even took place.
At the center of the dispute is the famous resolution that passed
Berman’s committee earlier this month, inflaming Turkey, dividing
Armenians over its wisdom and imperiling historic normalization talks
between Ankara and Yerevan.
Earlier this week, Foxx met with a group of Turkish journalists and
said the whole resolution is just political theater, a reflection of
`local politics in California.’ Berman, a Democrat, is from
California, which is home to many Armenian Americans. Foxx, a
Republican, is from North Carolina.
`[Berman] was pretty strong [in saying] it will not come for a vote on
the floor. He did not say it exactly in that way – he simply said it
won’t go any further. I accept his word on that,’ Foxx said Tuesday
during a meeting between Turkish and U.S. youth organized by the
Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank. She also posted the
comments to her Web site.
But the comments reported in the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review
made their way to Berman’s office. He was not happy.
`I never made the comments attributed to me by Rep. Foxx as reported
in the Hürriyet Daily News,’ Berman said in a written statement
Friday. `In both public and private, I have consistently said that
this resolution should be brought to the House floor for a vote as
soon as we are confident that a majority of House members will support
it.’
Foxx was unavailable for comment as the Daily News went to press
Friday. On her Web site, however, the earlier comments had been
removed.