11 10 2007- Bush: Armenian genocide bill a bad idea

Jean Eckian / Paris- www.inhomage.com
Bush: Armenian genocide bill a bad idea
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x36gcz_france24entop-storyoctober-10-th_news
A bid by US lawmakers to label the Ottoman massacre of Armenians a "genocide" will trigger Turkish reprisals and undermine Iraq, Afghanistan and Middle East peace, the administration warned Wednesday.

President George W. Bush and his top lieutenants were unusually blunt in attacking what is a non-binding resolution in the House of Representatives, highlighting anxiety over the impact on a key
diplomatic and military alliance.

Bush said the resolution would do "great harm" to ties with Turkey, a Muslim-majority member of NATO whose territory is a crucial transit point for US supplies bound for Iraq and Afghanistan.

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

In a joint appearance following talks with Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates also denounced the measure as the House Foreign Affairs Committee convened for debate
later Wednesday.

Rice said she sympathized with Armenians' fate during World War I, when according to the Armenians, 1.5 million of their kinsmen died in systematic deportations and killings under the Ottoman Empire.

"But the passage of this resolution at this time would, indeed, be very problematic for everything that we're trying to do in the Middle East because we are very dependent on a good Turkish strategic ally for this," she said.

The House resolution, which has a parallel measure in the Senate pipeline, would be "very destabilizing for our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan," Rice added.

Rejecting the genocide label, Turkey argues that 250,000 to 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians took up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia during World War I.

Turkey has already warned that passage of the House resolution could force it to bar the United States from a key military base in its south.

Gates said that about 70 percent of all Iraq-bound US air cargo, 95 percent of tough new mine-resistant vehicles and one-third of the military's fuel transit through Turkey.

US commanders "believe, clearly, that access to airfields and to the roads and so on in Turkey would be very much put at risk if this resolution passes and the Turks react as strongly as we believe they will," he said.

In a letter Tuesday to Bush, new Turkish President Abdullah Gul "drew attention to the serious problems that will emerge in bilateral relations if the bill is adopted."

But the measure has strong backing in the House, where the Armenians' wartime plight has been likened to the Nazi Holocaust against the Jews.

The resolution authored by Democratic Representative Adam Schiff, whose California district contains the country's largest ethnic-Armenian community, has won the backing of at least 226 co-sponsors in the 435-seat House.

"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," Schiff said.

"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?" he said.

The resolution says the World War I killings of Armenians was a "genocide" that should be acknowledged fully in US foreign policy towards Turkey, along with "the consequences of the failure to realize
a just resolution."

As the House vote has loomed, the US administration has deployed a phalanx of top officials to cajole members into line for fear of the impact on relations with a prickly but pivotal ally in the restive Middle East.

Late last month, all eight former US secretaries of state still alive wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging her to withdraw her support of the genocide measure.

Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian responded that it was "quite unfortunate that eight experienced diplomats would buy into Turkish manipulation."
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Three questions for historian Yves Ternon, author of several books on the Armenian Genocide Why is President Bush against Congress' move to recognize the Armenian
genocide? Is his stance shared my many policy-makers?
His refusal is not new. For years the debate around the Armenian genocide has failed to move forward and George Bush is manipulated by very influential lobbies on the Republican Party who are working to block the law on the recognition of the Armenian genocide to improve
relations between the US and Turkey.
George W. Bush knows nothing about the history of genocide. His views are excessive and he is one of a few world leaders to defend such a stance. Proof of an Armenian genocide is no longer an issue for historians. The Armenian genocide, like the Holocaust, is clearly
defined according to set criteria.
What are these criteria?
A genocide is the deliberate and prepared destruction of a group of people by a state. This was clearly the case for Armenians. Not only historians, but parliaments, states and international organizations
have recognized the genocide. But certain lobbies do not want to contradict the Turkish state. And George Bush doesn't understand anything.
A couple of parliaments, including the French one, have adopted laws recognizing the genocide. What is the impact of the debate in the US?
The ongoing debate in the US could lead to a breakthrough on this issue. A few countries have passed laws which have moved things forward, but the debate in the US is particularly important. If the US Congress passes a law recognizing the Armenian genocide, Turkey's back will be against the wall and the state will have to look into its past. Law is the only way to beat the revisionists politically.
Interviewed by Shirli Sitbon

Annette Melikian