U.S. TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE?

[MosJan]

 

U.S. TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE?

 

The Foreign Relations Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives will put Armenian Genocide Resolution 252 up for a vote. Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee Howard Berman has set the date for March 4. There are currently 135 Democrat and Republican Congressmen supporting the resolution. According to "Azatutyun" Radio, the Foreign Relations Committee has adopted resolutions recognizing the Armenian Genocide in 2000, 2005 and 2007. Although the resolutions were highly supported in Congress, they were not put up for a vote during the House plenary session because both presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush were strictly against the resolution based on the reasoning that Turkey could take steps in response to that. This resolution is also expected to be adopted by the foreign relations committee, but it is not clear as to whether speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi will agree to put the resolution up for a vote during the House of Representatives' plenary session.

[Yervant1]

Same dirty politics using AG in order to tame and bring Turkey in line with US policy. It might as well be to pressure Turkey to ratify the protocol in the parliament.

[Armat]

New letter signature drive

Takes a minute.

http://www.change.org/actions/view/tell_congress_to_recognize_the_armenian_genocide

Tell Congress to Recognize the Armenian Genocide

[MosJan]

Gagik Harutyunyan: adoption of Armenian Genocide resolution by U.S. Congress inevitable 08.02.2010 15:34 GMT+04:00 http://www.panarmenian.net/news/images/ico_print.gif http://www.panarmenian.net/news/images/ico_mail.gif /PanARMENIAN.Net/ The decision of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman to bring the Armenian Genocide Resolution, H.Res.252, to the panel floor is a signal for Turkey to take action towards normalization of relations with Armenia, according to Gagik Harutyunyan, the head of Noravank foundation.

 

“The United States will take the issue seriously sooner or later,” he said during a joint news conference with director of RA NAS Institute of Oriental Studies, prof. Ruben Safrastyan.

 

“Adoption of the resolution is inevitable,” he said.

 

Prof. Safrastyan said, for his part, that many of those supporting the H.Res.106 are now members of the Obama administration. “It’s a good prerequisite for passage of the current resolution,” he said.

 

H.Res.252, introduced in March of 2009 by lead sponsors Adam Schiff and George Radanovich, and Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-chairs Frank Pallone and Mark Kirk, currently has over 135 cosponsors.

[Yervant1]

Can someone find the link for the airing of the March 4th vote. Thanks

[MosJan]

 

ERDOGAN SAYS GOING TO U.S., SENDING BACK TURKISH ENVOY

http://www.armtown.com/img/photo/rfe_en_20100402_2001131.jpg(Reuters, RFE/RL) - Turkey said on Friday that it is sending its ambassador back to Washington, a month after he was recalled to protest against a U.S. congressional committee recognizing as genocide the World War One massacres of Armenians in Turkey. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan also confirmed that he will attend an international unclear summit to be hosted by President Barack Obama in Washington on April 12-13.

 

“I received an invitation five, six months ago, to attend an international event that other countries will also be attending and serves a good cause, to prevent the use and spreading of nuclear weapons. I will be going to the United States,” Erdogan told journalists. "My ambassador Namik Tan will be going back to Washington before my visit," he said.

 

Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian will also take part in the summit. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton invited him to Washington during a telephone call on March 12 that appeared to have centered on Armenia’s stalled rapprochement with Turkey.

 

Clinton phoned Sarkisian the day after he suggested that Turkey will not unconditionally normalize relations with Armenia anytime soon and again threatened to annul the U.S.-brokered protocols signed by the two nations in October. Some observers say the Obama administration will use the Washington forum for a last-ditch attempt to salvage the agreements.

 

It is not yet clear whether the U.S. president will meet Sarkisian and Erdogan on the sidelines of the summit. A spokesman for Sarkisian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service earlier this week that the Armenian leader may hold meetings with “various participants” of the two-day gathering. A senior member of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) said on Friday that a meeting between Sarkisian and Erdogan is “very possible.”

 

Ankara recalled its ambassador to Washington immediately after Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly approved on March 4 a resolution urging Obama to “accurately characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000 Armenians as genocide.”

 

In a telephone call with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu last Sunday, Clinton assured Turkey that the White House opposes further progress of the congressional resolution. It is uncertain whether the resolution will go to a vote of the full House of Representatives or whether it could pass.

 

AFP news agency quoted Davutoglu as saying on Thursday that Washington has conveyed “increasing messages easing our concerns and meeting our expectations ... and [showing] that the strategic dimension of Turkish-U.S. relations is being understood.”

 

Erdogan likewise spoke of “positive developments” in Turkish-American contacts. “I hope these positive developments will continue also in April,” he said.

 

It was an apparent reference to Obama’s statement due on the April 24 anniversary of the start of mass killings and deportations of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Ankara hopes that Obama will again refrain from using the word “genocide” to describe the events of 1915-1918.

 

The United States is keen to smooth over relations with Turkey, NATO's only Muslim member, and a key ally in trouble spots from Afghanistan to the Middle East. Washington is seeking to convince Turkey, a non-permanent member of the Security Council, to support a fourth round of U.N. economic sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, while Erdogan has spoken against the use of sanctions.

 

 

[Sip]

In this age of telephone, email, text message, cel phone, skype, IM, etc etc, what the point of having a "diplomat" in another country? Furthermore, what's the point of pulling that diplomat out of that country?