Bush urges Congress to reject bill recognizing slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians as "genocide"

Bush urges 'no' vote on Armenian genocide bill
The administration, while acknowledging the tragedy in which 1.5 million were killed, says the resolution in Congress would damage relations with key ally Turkey.
By Johanna Neuman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
9:36 AM PDT, October 10, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-genocide11oct11,1,1477742.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&track=crosspromo

WASHINGTON -- President Bush and top administration officials urged Congress today to reject a bill that would recognize as "genocide" the World War I-era slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians.

<<snip>>

"Its passage would do great harm to our relations with a key ally in NATO and in the global war on terror," Bush said on the south lawn of the White House. "We all deeply regret the tragic suffering of the Armenian people," he said, adding: "This resolution is not the right response to these mass killings."

The contentious issue has been simmering in Congress for years, as Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), whose district includes more Armenian Americans than any other, has lobbied for the bill's passage. This year, he has collected more than half the House's 435 members to his side -- including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), who has vowed to bring the bill to the floor for a vote for the first time.

<<snip>>

Turkey denies that the killings amounted to genocide, saying that Armenians and Turks alike were killed in ethnic clashes after World War I. Turkey, a NATO ally, has threatened to cut off cooperation with the United States on a number of security fronts if the resolution is passed. The country has unleashed a powerful lobbying force, including former House Speaker Bob Livingston (R-La.), to defeat the measure. The bill faces a tougher road in the 100-seat Senate, where Sen. Richard Durbin J. (D-Ill.) has attracted 32 co-sponsors.

In speaking to reporters against the measure, administration officials went out of their way today to recognize the Armenian slaughter. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the opposition stemmed from the danger to U.S. security interests, "not because the U.S. fails to recognize the terrible tragedy of 1915." She added that "the passage of this resolution at this time would be very problematic for everything we are trying to do in the Middle East."

about the Armenian Genocide.

this is not going to sit well with many Armenians, * is an enemy to all of us. I am truly upset with this now they have crossed the line, this is like not recognizing that there was not a genocide on the Jewish people, these thugs are despicable.

No, wait.

It's hard work.

No...

I give up.

it may hurt our "war on terror"

:sarcasm: :rofl:

it is a very important topic. Turkey refuses to acknowledge their policy of genocide against Armenians less than 100 years ago.

Hitler reassured his officers that they'd have no problems killing Jews because "Who remembers the Armenian extermination?" That was only 20 something years later!

For some reason the genocide of Armenians has always been ignored by most of the world. I don't understand it at all. I have no Armenian ancestry, I just oppose genocide. Don't other DUers oppose genocide???

Turkey must acknowledge and atone for the guilt of their grandfathers.

Sibel Edmond's silencing comes to mind

I admit I was not aware of. I'd guess a few other DUers aren't either. All I can recall off the top of my head when seeing her name is that she was silenced. Maybe you could tell us a bit more, like: How did Turkey get involved in lobbying to silence her? Is it because of the Kurdish situation?

Why do we call Turkey a friend when it refuses to admit that Turks committed the Armenian genocide?

One of the reasons given for invading Iraq was "He gassed his own people," and I seem to recall that Saddam was accused of attempting genocide because in fact the people who were gassed were Kurds, not Saddam's own ethnic group.

The Kurds have at least one very modern city in Kurdistan and have their own government, don't want to be part of Iraq at all. I saw a documentary a few years ago about Kurdistan (the Kurdish region in Northern Iraq.) Some Kurds in the region where other Kurds were gassed showed the documentary makers around the mountainous area where people died and explained that it was Iran, not the Iraqi government of Saddam, that gassed them.

It's all quite a tangled web in the Middle East.

:kick:

very interesting.

Adolph Hitler: http://www.armenian-genocide.org/hitler.html

pnorman

White House Weighs in Against Armenian Genocide Resolution

"On Wednesday afternoon, the House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on H.Res. 106, written and sponsored by Representative Adam Schiff. The resolution calls for recognition of the Armenian Genocide, in which 1.5 million Armenians were killed in the Ottoman Empire from 1915-1923. It also states that U.S. policy should reflect "appropriate understanding and sensitivity" concerning the event. Representative Schiff has argued that the United States cannot act against genocide today--such as in Darfur--if it is not willing to condemn all genocide."

"Opponents of the resolution argue that passing it at this time would cause serious tensions in U.S. relations with Turkey. Turkey could respond to the resolution by restricting or prohibiting U.S. access to airfields used to send equipment and supplies to Iraq. The Turkish President, Abdullah Gul, has sent a letter to President Bush opposing the resolution. The Turkish position is that people from all sides were killed in the fighting that took place, and that there was no singling out of Armenians by the government."

http://www.congress.org/congressorg/headlines.tt

(That's the entire story at the site. There are brief stories on other issues there in addition to this one.)