CID NATO-Moldova Website - US politicians call killing of Armenians ‘genocide’

US politicians call killing of Armenians ‘genocide’

Added by Mihai Popsoi

2010-03-05

A US congressional panel has labeled the 1915 killing of Armenians by Turkey ‘genocide’. President Obama’s administration had tried to prevent voting on the controversial issue on Thursday. Whilst Armenia is happy with the outcome, Turkey has recalled its ambassador to the US. However, the panel felt a decision was important. Speaking after the vote, Congressman Brad Sherman said: “Long term, we will not have a good relationship with Turkey until it abandons this effort to deny the past and engage in genocide denial. Would we have a good relationship with the German government denying the Holocaust? And who would have a good relationship with us if we were denying slavery and so many other things in our past? It is estimated that 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks 95 years ago. Turkey accepts that some people were killed, but it disputes the number that died and will not agree to the term ‘genocide’.

It remained unclear whether the resolution will come to a vote in the full house. A similar 2007 resolution died after intense lobbying by the Bush administration, amid fears it would damage relations between Turkey and the US. Historians say that 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman empire between 1915 and 1923, during a forced resettlement. "The overwhelming historical evidence demonstrates that what took place in 1915 was genocide," writes Henri Barkey, a Turkey scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington DC, who nevertheless opposes the house resolution as a needless political manoeuvre. The killings are considered one of the first instances of genocide in the 20th century. Turkey insists its historical records indicate no genocide took place, but points to a lack of common historical understanding over the events.

US congressional panel's resolution describing 'genocide' of Armenians could damage relations, warns Turkish PM. A US congressional panel voted to label as 'genocide' the first world war-era massacre of Armenians by Turkish forces. Turkey's prime minister warned of serious damage to US-Turkish relations today after a congressional committee approved a resolution describing the massacre of more than 1 million Armenians by the Ottoman empire during the first world war as genocide. Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country had been accused of a crime it did not commit, adding that the resolution would hamper efforts by Turkey and Armenia to end a century of hostility.

Turkey last night recalled its ambassador after the house foreign affairs committee approved 23-22 the non-binding measure despite objections from the Obama administration, which had warned that such a move would harm relations with Turkey – a Nato ally with about 1,700 troops in Afghanistan – and could imperil fragile reconciliation talks between Turkey and Armenia. The Turkish president, Abdullah Gul, called the resolution "an injustice to history and to the science of history". Armenia applauded the passage of the measure, which its foreign minister, Edward Nalbandian, described as "an important step towards the prevention of crimes against humanity". He added: "This is further proof of the devotion of the American people to universal human values and is an important step towards the prevention of crimes against humanity."

After centuries of foreign domination, Armenia won independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Under Swiss auspices, Turkey and Armenia have been negotiating a normalisation of bilateral relations and an opening of the border, outcomes which are strongly favoured by the US. The house resolution is the product of intensive lobbying by Armenian-Americans. Last year the Armenian national committee of America spent $50,000 (£33,000) lobbying Congress on the resolution, which urged Barack Obama to characterise the events as genocide in an annual message commemorating the massacres. During the presidential campaign, he referred to the killings as genocide, but did not used the term last year in a statement recognising Armenian remembrance day, which commemorates the massacres. On Wednesday, Secretary of state Hillary Clinton had called a senior Democrat Congressman, Howard Berman, to warn that the resolution could hurt US-Turkey relations.

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Sursa: Euronews ; Guardian

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