'07 US Armenian Genocide Bill news

[Hovik]

Yahoo! headlines: Turkey warns US on Armenia genocide bill

Turkey warns US on Armenia genocide bill

By SUZAN FRASER, Associated Press WriterTue Oct 9, 4:53 PM ET

Turkey's president warned the U.S. government Tuesday that their longtime ties will be harmed if Congress passes a resolution putting the genocide label on the mass killings of ethnic Armenians in Ottoman Turk lands during World War I.

President Abdullah Gul said in a letter there would be "serious troubles" if Congress adopted the measure, which is expected to be considered Wednesday by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Armenians, backed by many historians, contend hundreds of thousands of Armenians died in an organized genocide. Turks say the killings came amid widespread chaos and governmental breakdown as the 600-year-old Ottoman Empire collapsed in the years before modern Turkey was born in 1923.

In recent years, Armenians have campaigned for international recognition of the killings as genocide, and France is among countries that officially adopted that view. Turkey, a member of NATO along with France, broke military ties with the French government after that.

Gul's complaint to President Bush came as the Turkish governing party decided to ask for parliamentary approval for a military attack into northern Iraq, seeking to wipe out bases used by guerrillas of a Turkish Kurd separatist movement.

U.S. officials fear an incursion into Iraq's Kurdish region could destabilize one of the few areas in the country that have remained relatively peaceful and have urged the Turkish government against sending troops across the border.

The Bush administration is pressing Congress to reject the Armenian resolution, which would have no binding effect on U.S. foreign policy. But its supporters appear to have enough votes to win approval from the full House.

Some analysts said passage could break the last constraints holding the Turkish government back from striking into Iraq, despite the rising anger of Turks over recent attacks by rebels in largely Kurdish southeastern Turkey.

"What was preventing an operation was the fear that Turkey-U.S. relations might reach a new low, and concerns not to harm relations any further," said Ihsan Dagi in the international relations department of Middle East Technical University in Ankara.

"However, if the Armenian genocide resolution passes, that will be the moment when relations between Turkey and the United States collapse."

Polls say the United States already is unpopular in Turkey due to widespread opposition to the war in Iraq.

Many in the U.S. administration worry the Armenian resolution also could lead Turkey to restrict crucial supply routes to Iraq and Afghanistan and perhaps to close Incirlik, a strategic Turkish air base used by the United States.

In Ankara, the U.S. Embassy warned that the resolution could spark demonstrations and anti-American anger across Turkey and said that American citizens should be vigilant.

Desparation is a stinky colongne

[Alexandros]

The Hearing Will Be Aired Live!

Full Committee
Tom Lantos (D-CA), Chairman

You are respectfully requested to attend the following OPEN hearing of the
Full Committee, to be held in Room 2172 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

Date: Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Time: 1:30 PM

Markup Of: H. Res. 106, Calling upon the President to ensure that the foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented in the United States record relating to the Armenian Genocide, and for other purposes.

By Direction of the Chairman

The Committee on Foreign Affairs seeks to make its facilities accessible to persons with disabilities. If you are in need of special accommodations, please call 202/225-5021 at least four business days in advance of the event, whenever practicable. Questions with regard to special accommodations in general (including availability of Committee materials in alternative formats and assistive listening devices) may be directed to the Committee.

source

The hearing will be aired live.Click on this link -----> House Committee on Foreign Affairs and go to the right at the site where it says:"liveWebcast-only available during event.Check Committe schedule(LOOK ABOVE!)."

Click on this link worldtimezone so you could compare the time with your country.

Note: The hearing will be in Washigton D.C which has the same time in New York.

[Alexandros]

H.Res.106: mistake on website of House Foreign Affairs Committee


10.10.2007 16:35 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A mistake occurred on the website of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

The notice on removal of the vote on the Armenian Genocide Resolution, H.Res.106, doesn’t correspond to the truth, Apri Vartanian, Regional Director of the Armenian Assembly of America for Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh, told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

The notice refers to the previous vote in the Committee, she said.

Ms. Vartanian noted that yesterday, by the end of the working day in Congress, no changes were introduced in the Committee’s agenda.

The vote will be held according to the schedule, at 1.30 p.m.(10.30 p.m. Armenian time).

source

[1.5 million]

Here is (a majr part of) what we are up against people

Worse Than Irrelevant
A congressional resolution about massacres in Turkey 90 years ago endangers present-day U.S. security.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007; A16



IT'S EASY to dismiss a nonbinding congressional resolution accusing Turkey of "genocide" against Armenians during World War I as frivolous. Though the subject is a serious one -- more than 1 million Armenians may have died at the hands of the Young Turk regime between 1915 and the early 1920s -- House Democrats pushing for a declaration on the subject have petty and parochial interests. Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), the chief sponsor, says he has more than 70,000 ethnic Armenians in his Los Angeles district. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has promised to bring the measure to a vote on the House floor, has important Armenian American campaign contributors. How many House members can be expected to carefully weigh Mr. Schiff's one-sided "findings" about long-ago events in Anatolia?

The problem is that any congressional action will be taken in deadly earnest by Turkey's powerful nationalist politicians and therefore by its government, which is already struggling to resist a tidal wave of anti-Americanism in the country. Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, called President Bush on Friday to warn against the resolution. Turkish politicians are predicting that responses to passage by the House could include denial of U.S. access to Turkey's Incirlik air base, a key staging point for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Turkish parliament could also throw off longstanding U.S. constraints and mandate an invasion of northern Iraq to attack Kurdish separatists there, something that could destabilize the only region of Iraq that is currently peaceful.

No wonder eight former secretaries of state, including Henry A. Kissinger, James A. Baker III, George P. Shultz and Madeleine K. Albright, have urged Ms. Pelosi to drop the resolution, saying it "could endanger our national security interests in the region, including our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and damage efforts to promote reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey." Yet the measure is proceeding: It is due to be voted on today by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Supporters say congressional action is justified by the refusal of the Turkish government to accept the truth of the crimes against Armenians, and its criminalization of statements describing those events as genocide. It's true that Turkey's military and political class has been inexcusably slow to come to terms with that history, and virulent nationalism -- not Islamism -- may be the country's most dangerous political force. But Turkish writers and intellectuals are pushing for a change in attitude, and formal and informal talks between Turks and Armenians are making slow progress. A resolution by Congress would probably torpedo rather than help such efforts. Given that reality, and the high risk to vital U.S. security interests, the Armenian genocide resolution cannot be called frivolous. In fact, its passage would be dangerous and grossly irresponsible.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/09/AR2007100901892.html?hpid=topnews

[Joseph]

HOUSE TO PASS BILL ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
By Michal Lando, Jerusalem Post Correspondent

Jerusalem Post
Oct 10 2007
New York

The US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee is expected
to approve a bipartisan bill on Wednesday that calls on the US to
recognize the World War I massacres of Armenians as genocide.

The results of the vote will set the stage for a subsequent full
House consideration. If approved in the Committee, it will be up to
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a longtime supporter of such recognition,
to allow for a vote in the House.

The bill is largely expected to pass both the Committee and the full
House despite mounting pressure from Turkey. The bipartisan measure
currently has 226 co-sponsors - more than a majority in the House
and the most support an Armenian Genocide resolution has ever received.

"The United States has a compelling historical and moral reason to
recognize the Armenian Genocide, which cost a million and a half
people their lives," said Rep. Adam Schiff, who sponsored the bill,
in a statement. "But we also have a powerful contemporary reason
as well - how can we take effective action against the genocide in
Darfur if we lack the will to condemn genocide whenever and wherever
it occurs?" Similar bills have been debated in Congress for decades,
but Armenian groups have repeatedly been undermined by concerns about
damaging relations with Turkey.

Now, in the days preceding the vote, Turkish officials warned that
approval of the bill may mean that ties between Turkey the US and
Israel may suffer.

In a letter to Pelosi, Parliament Speaker Koksal Toptan said that
"it might take decades to heal negative effects of the bill if it
passes," AP reported. And last week eight former secretaries of state,
Republican and Democrat, urged Pelosi to block it.

On Friday, efforts by Turkey to intercede came through Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who told US President George W. Bush that
the measure would "harm the strategic partnership" between the two
countries. Bush reiterated his opposition to the bill, saying he
recognized the tragedy, but that the determination over whether the
events constitute a genocide should be a matter for historical inquiry,
not legislation.

"They've done everything in their power to scare members away from
voting for it, but if those threats scared people five to 10 years ago,
they don't seem to work today," said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director
of the Armenian National Committee, an Armenian interest group. "I
don't think anybody would like to see this adopted by Congress over
their opposition and be remembered as an organization that opposed
it." Similar threats to target diplomatic ties have been launched
against Israel in the last few days.

The widespread perception in Turkey is that US Jewish organizations
have linked up with Armenian groups to "defame" and "condemn" Turkey,
visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan told The Jerusalem
Post Monday.

He warned that if a measure characterizing the killing of Armenians
as an act of genocide was approved by Congress in the coming days,
it would not only harm Turkey's ties with the US, but also Ankara's
ties with Jerusalem.

Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, who
has publicly acknowledged the Armenian genocide, harshly criticized
the recent threats by the Turkish government. "This is an ugly and
inappropriate threat by Turkey and it really tells you something
about them when they blame Israel for something the US is doing,"
said Klein. "This doesn't have to do with Jews because they aren't
lobbying for it, and I don't think Israel or America or anyone should
respond to this type of inappropriate threat."

However, such threats have caused some Jewish organizations to stop
short of supporting the congressional bills. The issue erupted
in August, when the Anti-Defamation League reversed its longtime
refusal to recognize the genocide after a disagreement emerged with
its New England chapter. Boston Jews, who have close ties with the
large Armenian community in Boston, widely supported the recognition,
and stood behind New England Regional director Andrew Tarsy, who was
fired after telling the media he disagreed with the national position
on the Armenian genocide. Tarsy was reinstated, but the ADL stopped
short of supporting the congressional resolution.

Foxman continues to oppose the bill. "We are opposed in the sense
that we do not believe this is the place it should be resolved,"
said Foxman. "We may change our minds we may not." ADL's national
policy-making body is expected to discuss the congressional resolutions
at its annual meeting on November 1. Foxman has repeatedly urged the
Turks and the Armenians to resolve the issue between themselves. But
Armenians have refused offers by the Turkish government to establish
a joint commission to study historical facts.

Hamparian compared such a request to calls by Ahmadinejad for more
research on the Holocaust. "I think it's about as sincere as the
Iranian government saying they need to revisit the Holocaust,"
said Hamparian. "I think it's a veiled denial put in the guise of
academic inquiry."

[Nick_A]

How low we have sunk. We openly deny the freedom of expressing a moral truth out of fear of a bully. This is what our president has just done. So much for the United States being any sort of moral influence. Where have the men gone? Now that our weakness is revealed, people will die because Turkey knows its killings of Armenians and or Jews will be accepted and only opposed in America by the begging to please stop.

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2007/10/bush_to_congress_dont_cross_tu.html

[Alexandros]

Niki Tsongas, Democratic candidate for congress in Massachusetts district 5 who will face Republican candidate Jim Ogonowski 16 October answer ANCA Questionnaire:


1) Do you support the adoption of the Congressional Armenian Genocide Resolution?

Tsongas: Yes.


2) Do you support decisive U.S. steps to help end the genocide taking place today in Darfur?

Tsongas: Yes. As a member of Congress, I would fight to end the genocide in Darfur and work to engage the international community to stop this violence. I am encouraged that the U.N. Security Council has finally approved a credible peacekeeping force, but we must continue to put more pressure on the Sudanese government.


3) Do you support U.S. aid and other programs to strengthen Armenia’s self-reliance?

Tsongas: Yes. U.S. investment is vital to the Armenian economy particularly given the devastating impact of Turkey and Azerbaijan’s dual blockade. U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) recently said that the blockade costs Armenians an estimated $720 million annually.


4) Do you support continued U.S. developmental and humanitarian aid to Nagorno-Karabakh?

Tsongas: Yes. The U.S. should do all it can to help the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, who continue to suffer from tremendous economic hardship.


5) Do you support actions to expand U.S.-Armenia economic relations?

Tsongas: Yes.


6) Do you support maintaining parity in U.S. military aid to Armenia and Azerbaijan?

Tsongas: Yes. Maintaining parity in U.S. military aid is crucial to the stability of the region. I oppose the Bush administration’s 2008 proposed budget request that would reduce U.S. assistance to Armenia and break military assistance parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan.


7) Do you support Nagorno-Karabakh’s right to self-determination?

Tsongas: Yes. The people in Nagorno-Karabakh have a right to live in freedom and peace.


8) Do you support maintaining Section 907?

Tsongas: Yes.


9) Do you support legislative and other means to urge Turkey to end its blockade of Armenia?

Tsongas: Yes. The Turkish blockade prevents the U.S. and international humanitarian assistance from reaching those in need thus violating U.S. law and international standards.


10) Do you support encouraging Turkey, as a condition for purchasing U.S. arms, to end its blockade of Armenia, occupation of Cyprus, attacks on Kurds, restrictions on Christians and rights abuses?

Tsongas: Yes.


source


Click Here Niki Tsongas Democrat for Congress in Massachusetts

[Alexandros]

Good News.The resolution was adopted in House Foreign Affairs Committee!

[Alexandros]

House panel OKs Armenian genocide resolution


By Tabassum Zakaria and Susan Cornwell

11 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. House committee approved on Wednesday a resolution calling the 1915 massacres of Armenians genocide, brushing aside White House warnings that it would do "great harm" to ties with NATO ally Turkey, a key supporter in the Iraq war.

The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee approved the resolution 27-21. It now goes to the House floor, where Democratic leaders say there will be a vote by mid-November. There is a companion bill in the Senate, but both measures are strictly symbolic, and do not require the president's signature.

Turkey calls the resolution an insult and rejects the Armenian position, backed by many Western historians, that up to 1.5 million Armenians suffered genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks during World War One.

Turkey has warned of damage to bilateral ties if Congress passes the measure, and President George W. Bush made the same point before the vote Wednesday.

"This resolution is not the right response to these historic mass killings, and its passage would do great harm to our relations with a key ally in NATO and in the global war on terror," Bush said at the White House.

The bulk of supplies for troops in Iraq pass through Turkey's Incirlik airbase, and Turkey provides thousands of truck drivers and other workers for U.S. operations in Iraq. Supplies also flow from that base to troops in Afghanistan.

The committee vote followed hours of sometimes emotional debate over whether, as the committee's chairman Rep. Tom Lantos said, lawmakers should "condemn this historic nightmare through the use of the word genocide," or put military cooperation with an upset Turkey at risk. Lantos, a California Democrat, voted for the resolution.

"We are disappointed at this point, but this process is going on," Turkey's ambassador to the United States, Nabi Sensoy, told reporters after the vote. "We will have to wait and see what the results are." He did not want to "prejudge" the reaction of the Turkish government or parliament.

The White House was also "very disappointed" in the vote, spokesman Gordon Johndroe said, adding that the president is still asking that the House as a whole reject the resolution if and when it comes to the floor.

But a group of Armenian Americans -- the Armenian Assembly of America -- commended the move. "It is long past time for the U.S. government to acknowledge and affirm this horrible chapter of history - the first genocide of the 20th century and a part of history that we must never forget," director Bryan Ardouny said in a statement.

(Additional reporting by Caren Bohan, Matt Spetalnick)

source

[1.5 million]

From last Spring - “We will do our best stop the Armenian Genocide bill,” said Tom Lantos

From earlier today - "The committee vote followed hours of sometimes emotional debate over whether, as the committee's chairman Rep. Tom Lantos said, lawmakers should "condemn this historic nightmare through the use of the word genocide," or put military cooperation with an upset Turkey at risk. Lantos, a California Democrat, voted for the resolution."

I saw the above and tried to reconcile with Lantos' position earlier in the year. Am I right in thinking that pressure regarding the ADL exposure (actively working toward denying the Genocide) may have had something to do with this (extreme) switch in position?