No vote yet on 'Armenian genocide' bill...

The U.S. House of Representatives did not vote on the "Armenian genocide" resolution Tuesday, but there is a chance the legislative body could bring it to the agenda on Wednesday.

The House worked on several matters of little international interest Tuesday but did not vote on a resolution calling on the U.S. administration to recognize World War I-era killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as "genocide."

At the same time, President Barack Obama's administration made no major or high-level statements against the resolution on Tuesday.

Asked to comment on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's letter to Obama on the need to defeat the "Armenian genocide" resolution, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Tuesday: "I do not believe that the president has made any calls specifically on this, and I think his views on this are known."

As a presidential candidate, Obama had called for the United States' official recognition of what U.S. Armenians call the "Armenian genocide," but after becoming president he opposed official recognition.

No statements came from Defense Secretary Robert Gates or Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday. The House's full floor was expected to continue with its proceedings on Wednesday.

U.S. Armenians last week called on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to schedule a vote on the "Armenian genocide" resolution.

Armenia claims up to 1.5 million Armenians were systematically killed in 1915 under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey denies this, saying a much smaller number of deaths were the result of civil strike that erupted when Armenians took up arms in eastern Anatolia.


/Hurriyet Daily News/