Turkish MP’s Off to Washington D.C. to Lobby Against Genocide Bill

Turkish MP’s Off to Washington D.C. to Lobby Against Genocide Bill
2010/02/27 | 13:28

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Two groups of Turkish parliamentarians will visit Washington, D.C., to
lobby against the `Armenian genocide’ bill that will be voted on by
the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs on March 4.

Members of the Turkish Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee and the
Turkey-U.S. Parliamentary Friendship Group are scheduled to start
lobbying in the U.S. capital on March 1, this according to a report in
yesterday’s Hurriyet.

Suat Kiniklioglu the ruling AKP vice president for foreign relations,
described the upcoming vote as `a misfortune’ showing `lack of
foresight’ while the normalization processes between Turkey and
Armenia is still underway.

`The Armenian diaspora in the U.S. attempted [to pass this bill] in
2007, but failed. The bill was passed through the U.S. House Committee
on Foreign Affairs, but failed to pass in Congress,’ Kiniklioglu told
reporters. `We are planning to prevent the bill’s ratification by the
committee. In case of failure, we will attempt [to lobby] Congress to
not vote for this bill.’

The AKP official described the timing of the vote `absurd and
inappropriate’ in regard to existing Turkey-U.S. relations. `We hope
our efforts will prevent this risky attempt, which may damage
bilateral relations,’ he said. `We act in unity as government,
opposition and NGOs in the U.S.’

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress