Resolution showdown
Armenian genocide resolution clears committee
Kenneth Todd Ruiz
Article Launched: 10/10/2007 03:50:57 PM PDT
WASHINGTON -- A resolution to compel the U.S. government to formally classify the 1915 massacre of Armenians as a genocide cleared a House committee by 27-21 vote.
Amid strong opposition from the White House and Turkish government, the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee approved the resolution which clears the way for it to go to a full vote in the House.
"The United States has a compelling historical and moral reason to recognize the Armenian Genocide, which cost a million and a half people their lives," said the bill's author, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena. "But we also have a powerful contemporary reason as well -- how can we take effective action against the genocide in Darfur if we lack the will to condemn genocide whenever and wherever it occurs?"
More after the jump ...
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| Former Councilman/Mayor Bill Paparian took on the rotating seat of City Hall Dungeonmaster and presided over many Dungeons & Dragons tournaments. OK, that was insensitive and offensive. He was hosting dignitaries from the Armenian Apostolic Church, according to his campaign web page. |
"I think now we have to see what speaker [Nancy] Pelosi's going to do with it," Paparian said. "I'm of the belief that like previous administrations, both Republican and Democratic, she will not allow this to come to the floor for a vote because it is predicted that it would pass."
More than half of the House's representatives have signed on as cosponsors.
Paparian's doubts about Pelosi's support are bolstered, he said, by Turkish media accounts that she has met several times this year with top Turkish officials, including Turkey's ambassador and a top adviser to that nation's prime minister.
President George Bush quickly reiterated his opposition to the resolution today, saying it would damage an important strategic relationship with Turkey.
"This resolution is not the right response to these historic mass killings and its passage would do great harm to our relations with a key ally in NATO and in the global war on terror," he said.
Turkey denies the killing of 1.5 million Armenians during the twilight of the Ottoman Empire was a genocide and perceives the resolution as the first step toward demands to surrender land to Armenia.
Comments
Posted by: AP | October 10, 2007 4:55 PM
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