TURKISH POLITICIANS HEAD TO WASHINGTON OVER WORRIES ABOUT ARMENIAN RESOLUTION

Journal of Turkish Weekly
March 24 2015

24 March 2015

Worried about a draft resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives
that recognizes the 1915 killings of Ottoman Armenians as genocide,
a group of Turkish politicians have set out for Washington to ensure
that the resolution does not pass.

Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek arrived in Washington and is expected
to meet his counterpart at the House of Representatives on March 25.

Foreign Minister Mevlut CavuÃ…~_oglu will also visit Washington
before April 24, the traditional international commemoration day
of the tragedy. Ankara and Washington have agreed on the visit,
but are still working on a suitable date in April, Foreign Ministry
Spokesperson Tanju Bilgic said.

The draft resolution is backed by congressmen such as Illinois
Republican representative Robert Dold, California Democratic
representatives David Paladao and Adam Schiff, and New Jersey
Democratic representative Frank Pallone.

The draft resolution, which calls on the U.S. president to recognize
the 1915 killings as a genocide, will initially be discussed and
voted on at the Foreign Relations Committee, and can be brought to
the House on the initiative of Speaker John Boehner.

Forty-six members of congress currently support the draft resolution.

In the past, similar resolutions have been passed by the Foreign
Affairs Committee, but the speaker has prevented a vote from being
held on the House floor.

24 March 2015

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress