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Armenian ‘genocide’ bill on the way to US Congress

The Turkish government dismisses linkage between Armenian issue and a possible decision to grant expanded access to İncirlik air base

ANKARA – Turkish Daily News

A resolution upholding Armenian allegations that their ancestors were victims of a genocide campaign at the hands of the late Ottoman Empire during World War 1 will be presented to the U.S. Congress in April, said a spokesman for the influential Armenian Diaspora in the United States.

The resolution, similar to the one pushed forward in the House of Representatives in 2000 but withdrawn after the Bill Clinton administration intervened, will be brought to Congress on April 20, Ross Vartian, executive chairman of the Armenian Assembly of America, told daily Milliyet in an interview.

The development is alarming for the future of Turkish-U.S. relations, which has been going through hard times over disagreements on Iraq and a rising mutual mistrust. Turkish observers warn consequences of a congressional recognition of the alleged genocide could be destructive for ties and sabotage attempts to put the strained ties back on track.

“It should be known that we have sensitivities on this issue,” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told reporters in Morocco.

He dismissed any link between such a resolution and a Turkish decision to grant expanded access to an air base in southern Turkey, İncirlik. “Any development to associate this with the alleged Armenian genocide would sadden us,” Erdoğan said. “So far, the U.S. Congress has not done anything like that; I do not believe it would do it in the future, either.”

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül also dismissed any link and said there could be no İncirlik-Armenian bargaining. “These are issues that are not related to each other. … We hope the U.S. administration would treat the matter with the same care it has shown in the past,” he told reporters.

“There is no ‘I give you this, you give me that’ between allies.”

Both Erdoğan and Gül, however, signaled that the Turkish side intended to give the United States the right to use İncirlik as a logistics hub to support operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“In principle, we have no problem,” Erdoğan said of the U.S. proposal.

“There are some requests for cooperation,” Gül said. “They are being assessed and considered at the moment. There are some technical details, and the issue will be concluded when these are resolved.”

The government is widely expected to give the go-ahead to the U.S. proposal after the Turkish Foreign Ministry and the General Staff have worked out a formula under which İncirlik could be used as a cargo hub by the United States. That would require Turkish authorities to issue “blanket permission” for cargo planes from the United States and other countries participating in operations in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Observers warn of the high possibility a resolution recognizing the alleged genocide might be easily approved if it is voted and say the administration could prevent a negative outcome only if it could prevent the vote. U.S. officials, on the other hand, have said they might need some steps on the part of Turkey to have their hand strengthened against any congressional move. Such steps reportedly include closer cooperation on Iraq.

More than 90 congressmen have signed a letter urging President George W. Bush to use the word “genocide” in his commemorative message traditionally issued on April 24, the date which Armenians say is the anniversary of the alleged genocide.

Turkey has called for a joint scholarly study of the allegations and said Ottoman archives were open to all investigators, but Armenia turned down the offer. Vartian told Milliyet that a further study of the claims was not necessary as historians have already confirmed that there genocide was committed.

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