US Armenians see 'favorable position' for Turkish genocide recognition in Congress

Wıth just days until the first round of US congressional voting on the Armenian 'genocide' bill, US Armenians say the latest response from a member of the Obama administration, this time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has further enforced the image of the current government’s ‘favorable position’.

Pushing for the passage of an Armenian "genocide" resolution in a U.S. House panel vote later this week, the largest U.S. Armenian group has said the State Department's position on this matter is now more favorable than that of the earlier U.S. administrations.

During a speech at a House subcommittee last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used only weak diplomatic language to oppose the "genocide" measure. "We are working very hard to assist Armenia and Turkey in their (reconciliation) efforts and, you know, we would like to continue to support that effort and not be diverted in any way at all," Clinton said last Thursday.

By saying "not be diverted in any way," Clinton was apparently referring to Turkey's position that any U.S. congressional endorsement of the "genocide" bill would effectively kill the Washington-backed normalization process with Armenia.

But she made no reference to the U.S. national security argument. Over the past 10 years, the administrations of former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush had strongly opposed other Armenian "genocide" bills, saying their congressional passage would deeply hurt U.S. national security interests.

"Secretary Clinton's remarks represent the third time in just the past few weeks that a senior (Barack) Obama administration official - in response to pointed questions about the Armenian genocide resolution - has chosen not to voice … opposition to the adoption of this genocide-prevention measure," said Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America.

"The current administration's conduct, at least to date, stands in stark contrast to past administrations - both Democratic and Republican - that used every opportunity to score points with Ankara by attacking the broad, bipartisan Congressional majority that has long existed in support of U.S. condemnation and commemoration of the Armenian genocide," Hamparian said in a weekend statement.

Howard Berman, the Democratic chairman of the House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, announced in early February that his panel would vote on the resolution this Thursday. If the bill passes the committee, it will be heading for a final vote on the House floor. Similar "genocide" resolutions passed the committee in 2000, 2005 and 2007, but could never reach a House floor vote because of extensive pressure from former presidents Clinton and Bush.

The non-binding resolution would call on Obama to ensure that U.S. policy formally refers to the Armenian killings as "genocide" and to use that term when he delivers his annual message on the issue in April - something Obama avoided doing last year. Turkey has been warning that any House or Senate adoption of an Armenian "genocide" bill will lead to a major and lasting worsening in relations with the United States.

A recent Hürriyet Daily News analysis based on the positions and voting trends of the House Foreign Affairs Committee's 46 members suggested that the resolution would likely pass the panel's March 4 vote.

U.S. diplomats in recent weeks have been urging the Turkish government to implement the reconciliation process without any preconditions, saying that in the absence of this action, “genocide” bills in Congress may be unstoppable.

The Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers signed in October a set of agreements under which Ankara and Yerevan would set up normal diplomatic relations and reopen their land border. But the normalization process is now faltering.

The Turkey-Armenia accord needs to be ratified by the parliaments of the two neighbors before implementation, but there is no indication of when either nation would bring the deal to a parliament vote.


/Hurriyet Daily News/