Bush administration to reassure Turkey of its opposition to proposed genocide resolution
February 6th, 2007 by
U.S. officials will reassure the Turkish foreign minister, currently visiting Washington, that they will try to quash a proposed resolution in Congress condemning as genocide the early 20th century killings of Armenians.
In talks with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, U.S. officials also will discuss Turkish worries that the United States is not doing enough to prevent Kurdish rebels from operating in Northern Iraq.
The meetings come at a tense moment for relations between the United States and Turkey, a moderate Muslim democracy and NATO ally crucial to U.S. operations in Iraq.
President George W. Bush’s administration is alarmed that the suggested congressional resolution could disrupt efforts to repair strains stemming from perceptions in Ankara that regional instability caused by the U.S.-led war in Iraq have harmed Turkish interests.
The administration has opposed previous attempts by members of Congress to pass resolutions recognizing the 1915-1919 killings in Anatolia of up to 1.5 million Armenians as an organized genocide. A resolution introduced in the House of Representatives in January is thought to stand a much better chance of passing a floor vote. [Read More]
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February 13th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
Before her meeting with Gul, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Turkey “a strategic ally, a global partner (that) shares our values.”
The U.S. needs to realize that U.S. Turkish relations heavily benefit Turkey. Like a parasite, Turkey has been sucking funds out of the U.S. under the terms that they are an essential ally in the middle east and the War on Terror. Unfortuneatly Turkey has done nothing but block our usage of airbases in during the invasion and has supported the current U.S. policy of Genocide Denail. This type of ends before means diplomacy shows us the U.S. and the international community’s lack of compassion for current, past, and future genocide victims.