Bush opposes Armenian lobby move against Turkey

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday adopted an amendment proposed by Congressman Adam Schiff that prohibits the Turkish government from using U.S. foreign assistance for defeating legislation recognizing the so-called Armenian genocide of 1915. Tens of thousands of Armenians live in Schiff’s congressional district in Southern California.

Turkey strongly denies all genocide claims and says the number of deaths is inflated and that the victims were killed in civil unrest. Ankara and Washington are engaged in strategic cooperation in numerous fields, and the success of such a move could seriously damage bilateral ties.

"The House of Representatives adopted this proposal, but the Senate did not. The administration is against it, and we will continue to voice our opposition to this," the Anatolia news agency quoted Boucher as saying.

According to a report issued by the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), the resolution on genocide reaffirms U.S. support for the Genocide Convention adopted in 1989 and cites the importance of remembering past crimes against humanity, including the so-called Armenian genocide, the Holocaust and the Cambodian and Rwandan genocides.

ANCA is an umbrella organization that brings together Armenian lobbying groups in the United States and aims at pushing Turkey to recognize the so-called Armenian genocide claims. Armenian officials, however, see its efforts not helpful.

Boucher also said that kind of move would not help to improve ties between Turkey and Armenia, which do not currently enjoy diplomatic relations. But Ankara recently expressed a willingness to improve the situation between the two countries.

Besides differing over genocide, the two countries also are at odds over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region within Azerbaijan that has been under ethnic Armenian control since a war that ended in 1994 without a political settlement.

Turkey, which shares close ethnic ties with Azerbaijan and supported Baku in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, has maintained an economic blockade of Armenia, hobbling development in the landlocked former Soviet republic.

"Our goal is not to separate our key NATO ally Turkey and our friend Armenia but to work to pave the way for their cooperation," said Boucher, according to Anatolia.

Chances look slim for the adoption of the proposal by both houses of Congress due to strong opposition on the part of the administration, Anatolia said.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert and other Republican leaders said in a statement that they oppose the Schiff amendment and "will insist that conferees drop that provision" should the measure pass the Senate.

"Turkey has been a reliable ally of the United States for decades, and the deep foundation upon which our mutual economic and security relationship rests should not be disrupted by this amendment."

They said the amendment is meaningless because by law, foreign governments are barred from using U.S. aid to lobby.

"But we understand the political motivation behind the amendment, and for that reason we will insist that it be dropped."

The leaders also said they "have no intention" of scheduling the Armenian genocide resolution for a vote for the rest of the year.

On a related matter, Boucher said Turkey had withdrawn its candidacy to chair the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 2007 "due to [the] competing obligations" of high-level officials.

"They felt they would be unable to devote the appropriate attention to the position. So we respect that decision."

Last month Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian said his country would veto Turkey’s chairmanship because it thinks the role can only be filled by a nation that has diplomatic relations with all the OSCE’s states.