A motion calling for an indirect recognition of the Armenian allegations of a genocide at the hands of the late Ottoman Empire has been presented to the U.S. Senate, days after a similar draft was approved in a sub-committee of the House of Representatives.
The proposal has been presented by Senator John Ensign from Nevada and Senator Jon Corzine of New Jersey, home to a sizable Armenian community, during Senate discussions on the 2004 budget of the Department of State. That proposal refers to the alleged genocide.
Similar to the draft resolution that cleared the House of Representatives committee last week, the proposal brought by the two senators is meant to mark the United States’ ratifying a U.N. convention on prevention of the crime of genocide.
It emphasizes that the so-called Armenian genocide among genocides against other nations and calls on the U.S. administration to derive lessons from past genocide and not to let them repeat ever again.
Turkey categorically denies the claims of the powerful Armenian lobby, which says some 1.5 million Armenians fell victim to a genocide campaign at the hands of the Ottoman Empire during the World War II years. Turkey says the toll is inflated and that deaths came as a result of the Ottoman administration’s efforts to quell Armenian-sparked civil unrest.
The moves in direction of the recognition of the “Armenian genocide” came at a time when relations between Turkey and the United States have been strained after Turkish Parliament refused in March a U.S. request to allow deployment of 62,000 troops on Turkish soil for the creation of a northern front against Iraq.
Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense, said at a recent media interview that Turkey should admit that it had made a mistake in not allowing in the U.S. troops. Political analysts have warned that the tension might result in the United States’ withdrawing its support for Turkey in several fields, such as Cyprus, Turkey’s bid to join the European Union and in the issue of Armenian claims of a genocide.
A similar draft was shelved in the House of Representative at the last moment during the term of former U.S. President Bill Clinton, when the president sent a letter to House of Representative president Dennis Hastert and said the approval of the draft would be detrimental to U.S. national interests.
Ankara – Turkish Daily News
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