House weighs genocide accusations.

[Guest]

House Weighs

Genocide Accusation

 

By Shannon McCaffrey

Associated Press Writer

Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2000; 2:54 p.m. EDT

 

WASHINGTON –– A resolution labeling the killing of hundreds of thousands of Armenians in Turkey as genocide cleared a House committee Tuesday despite warnings it could seriously damage U.S. relations with a key military ally.

 

Rep. Sam Gejdenson, D-Conn., said it was imperative for the United States to respond to human rights violations, whether the perpetrator is an ally or a foe.

 

"What we're being asked to do is ignore a historical fact because it complicates our foreign policy and I think that's a dangerous message," Gejdenson said.

 

Armenians say their people were slaughtered as part of the Ottoman Empire's campaign to force them out of eastern Turkey between 1915 and 1923. The United Nations has said the slayings were genocide.

 

The Turkish government says the death count is vastly inflated and that the deaths occurred as the Ottoman Empire tried to quell civil unrest. The Ottoman Empire became Turkey in 1923.

 

"I want to insist on one point: Genocide didn't happen," Turkish Parliament member Mehmet Ali Irtemqelik told the committee.

 

"Atrocities happened in Ottoman times ... but the Ottoman government did not make the decision to exterminate systematically and that is what genocide is."

 

The Turkish foreign ministry issued a statement saying the "context of the resolution is against historical facts" and that passage would hurt attempts to normalize relations between Turkey and Armenia.

 

The measure was approved by the House International Relations Committee 24-11, with two members voting present. It now proceeds to the House floor. The Senate has not acted.

 

Though nonbinding, the measure would put the House on record as siding with the Armenian contention that genocide occurred. It is sensitive enough to the Turkish government that President Ahmet Necdet Sezer called President Clinton on Monday to express concern about the measure. The Clinton administration opposes the resolution.

 

Many of those who voted against the measure said that while they do not dispute that 1.5 million Armenians were killed, they do not believe the United States should endanger its strategic relationship with Turkey, a NATO member. The United States uses the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey to patrol the no-fly zone in northern Iraq.

 

Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, testified before the vote that adoption of the resolution "would affect our national security negatively at this time."

 

Some Democrats, notably California Rep. Thomas Lantos, have accused the House leadership of pushing the measure to help GOP Rep. James Rogan, who is locked in a tight re-election bid after serving as house manager during Clinton's impeachment. Rogan's Southern California district is home to a large number of Armenians.

 

The Turkish government has hired a stable of high-powered lobbyists to fight the measure. Former Reps. Bob Livingston, R-La.; Gerald Solomon, R-N.Y.; and Steven Solarz, D-N.Y., are being paid $1.8 million.

 

Armenian groups have hired former Rep. Susan Molinari, R-N.Y., to lobby for them.

 

As Congress Considers Armenian Genocide, Turkey Plays Hardball

 

By ELI J. LAKE

 

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 (UPI)-What does the "Armenian Genocide" have to do with

the U.S. air presence in northern Iraq? An awful lot, if you ask members of

the Turkish parliament.

 

A delegation of five Turkish lawmakers arrived in Washington Sunday with

the express purpose of convincing members of the House International

Relations Committee to reject a non-binding resolution instructing U.S.

foreign policy to reflect an "appropriate understanding and sensitivity

concerning the U.S. record on the Armenian genocide."

 

Turkey has expressed concern about recent confrontations between U.S. and

Iraqi forces in Iraq's northern no-fly zone, and is considering suspending

flights from the Incirlik airbase in Eastern Turkey, used by American jets

to enforce the no-fly zone.

 

The Turks argue the 1915 campaign to rid the city of Kars of Armenians did

not constitute a "genocide" insofar as it was not a deliberate attempt to

destroy the Armenian people, but rather an effort to fight Soviet

sympathizers aiding the Russian Army's onslaught against the eastern realm

of the Ottoman Empire. Armenians claim that between 1915 and 1923 1.5

million of their people were slaughtered in death marches led by the Turkish

Army. In recent years the stakes have become higher as Armenians have sought

compensation and Washington has appeared to come around to this perspective.

Last year, Deputy Treasury Secretary Stuart Eisenstat publicly urged the

Turkish justice ministry to recognize the genocide.

 

One strategy traditionally employed by the Armenian lobby has been to push

Congress to pass commemorative resolutions that instruct the President to

use the term "Armenian Genocide" on April 24, the day Armenians remember the

tragedy that befell their people. And in 1975 and 1984 Congress indeed

passed such resolutions.

 

But in 1994, the House passed a rule to ban commemorative resolutions.

Since then the Armenian lobby has tried to condition foreign aid and weapons

sales to Turkey on Ankara's recognition of its efforts to exterminate the

Armenian people in World War I. These amendments however have never been

signed into law, garnering support from one chamber and not the other, or

being excised during the conference process on appropriations bills. This

year, the lobby is pushing for a non-binding resolution for the House to

recognize the Armenian genocide, and have it inform American foreign policy.

An earlier version of the bill would have also required the State Department

to include lessons on the genocide in Foreign Service training.

 

This resolution which has slipped under the radar of the American press

has been on the front page of the major Turkish newspapers for the last two

weeks. Last week the Turkish Security Council met to discuss the resolution

and possible implications if it passes the House. And last weekend the

Turkish parliament passed a resolution that said Turkish-U.S. relations

would likely suffer if the Genocide resolution passed the House.

 

Stateside, a number of former defense officials and defense contractors

have sent letters to House International Relations Committee chairman, Ben

Gilman, R-N.Y., to urge him to reject the resolution on the grounds that it

will fray U.S.-Turkish relations. And the Turks are also counting on support

from two well connected former lawmakers to make their case on Capital Hill.

Earlier this year, the Turks hired as lobbyists the former House chairman of

the Rules Committee Gerald Solomon and the man who almost became House

Speaker in 1998 until a sex scandal forced him to resign from Congress, Bob

Livingston.

 

"We've been telling them how dangerous this resolution is and what the

risks are in our relationship," the spokesman for Turkey's embassy in

Washington, Namik Tan, said.

 

Potentially at stake are U.S. operations in the Incirlik airbase. One

Turkish official told UPI that American use of the airbase has come up in a

number of discussions with senior administration officials. The question is

all the more poignant because the Turkish parliament is expected in the next

two months to vote on reauthorizing an agreement that allows the U.S. Air

Force to use Incirlik for Operation Northern Watch, the American campaign in

northern Iraq.

 

The Turks have caught flack in the Arab world for their continued support

of the American air war in Iraq, not to mention the financial opportunities

Turkey has lost by forgoing trade with one of its largest trading partners.

When Ankara agreed to U.N. sanctions against Baghdad it gave up $50 billion

in trade with Iraq. As other countries such as Jordan, France and Russia

contemplate busting the U.N. sanctions, the Turkish government may find it

harder to resist the temptation to join in.

 

One Washington lobbyist put it this way: "If this resolution is adopted it

will create a major uproar in Turkey. This will generate an adverse reaction

on the part of the public. To the extent that parliamentarians tend to

reflect the will of their constituents, it will seriously jeopardize the

ability of the government, even if the government wants to permit the U.S.

to continue using the base, to get this through."

 

But the Turkish Defense Attaché in Washington, Brig. Gen. Ziya Guler,

doesn't think his country will close down Incirlik. "The people may press

them to take some countermeasure (against the United States), but the

Turkish government has enough confidence in the U.S. and its strong

relationship, especially in terms of defense and security issues. . . It is

my understanding the government's objective is not to harm the relationship

but to strengthen the relationship."

 

But U.S. operations at Incirlik are not the only thing at stake with the

upcoming House vote. Last year the Turks announced their intention to

modernize their armed forces with $150 billion over the next ten years.

Under normal circumstances those contracts would go to American companies,

but not necessarily if the resolution passes.

 

Phyllis Kaminsky, a consultant for Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics

said a number of contracts are being worked out with Turkey ranging from the

sale of Cobra Helicopters, electronic warfare systems and satellites. "There

is no question there will be a short term impact." Kaminsky said she has

received a number of e-mails in the last few days from Turkey's defense

community expressing concern about the resolution, and that business

meetings with Turkish officials have been cancelled.

 

"The defense contracts of American companies will absolutely fall into

difficulty if this resolution passes," Aydan Kozluca, a consultant with

American businesses in Turkey said. Kozluca also said that a number of

energy contracts that will be available as a result of new energy

regulations passed by the Turkish parliament this year could also be

jeopardized by the resolution.

 

 

 

Miasnutyun Parties Close To Reconciliation

 

In a surprise U-turn over its plans to reshuffle the governing coalition, the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) of Prime Minister Andranik Markarian signaled on Tuesday that it is ready for a reconciliation with its partner in the Miasnutyun bloc, the People's Party (HZhK). Leaders of the two parties announced that they are close to agreement on preventing the bloc's final split.

 

The Republicans have been at the forefront of a campaign to unseat parliament speaker Armen Khachatrian, a senior HZhK member, which was seen as part of their broader efforts to squeeze the center-left party out of government structures. The multi-partisan challenge against Khachatrian last week ended in controversy over the acceptance of his resignation. President Robert Kocharian on Monday asked the Constitutional Court to decide whether the resignation was accepted in accordance with the law, in a bid to overcome the legal deadlock.

 

Republican leader Tigran Torosian, who was one of the main candidates for the post of speaker, said his party has not yet made a final decision to restore links with the HZhK. Torosian is thought to be in favor of Miasnutyun's break-up. But other sources said that premier Markarian has already made up his mind and informed leaders of five other parliamentary parties, which sided with the HHK last week, about the sudden reversal of his position. The parties, among them the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) and National Democratic Union, were said to have been taken aback by the news late on Monday. But it was not clear whether President Robert Kocharian approved of the new twist in the country's political life.

 

Political observers suggested that Markarian, whose party does not control the parliament, has come to the conclusion that the backing of HZhK deputies will be critical for continuing to push his government's initiatives through the National Assembly.

 

Meanwhile, the political future of speaker Khachatrian continued to hang in the balance, with all eyes focused on the Constitutional Court. "Any decision by the Constitutional Court on the issue must be accepted," Torosian told reporters. He said the Court may deliver its verdict before the next parliament session due on Monday.

 

Artsax's Babayan Denies Murder Charges In Court Testimony

 

Nagorno-Artsax's former defense minister, General Samvel Babayan, on Tuesday gave the first testimony in his ongoing trial in Stepanakert with an emphatic denial of any involvement in the March 22 attempt on the life of the self-proclaimed republic's leader, Arkady Ghukasian. He also denied admitting last April the charges that he plotted to kill Ghukasian with the aim of returning to power.

 

"If I had organized the assassination attempt I would have made sure that the whole building, and not just [Ghukasian's] car, blew up," Babayan told the judge.

 

The general, who was the most powerful figure in Artsax until June 1999, claimed that in January and February this year he received "dozens of offers" to murder Ghukasian but turned them down categorically. Some of the 15 other defendants standing trial were among those individuals who made such offers, he said.

 

The allegation caused a furious reaction from two defendants implicated by Babayan. One of them, David Ghulian, accused the general of lying, reiterating his claim that the armed assault was masterminded by Babayan. Ghulian used to be the ex-minister's security guard. The wrangling among several defendants kept in the same cage degenerated into a brawl, which was stopped by security officers.

 

Babayan, who sits in a separate dock, resumed his testimony, saying that he does not remember signing the April 3 document cited by prosecutors as the main evidence of his confession of the crime. He said he was drugged and beaten up on that day. The Artsax authorities have denied torture allegations repeatedly made by Babayan and his lawyer, Zhudeks Shakarian. Shakarian and some of the other defense attorneys argue that the trial cannot uncover the truth about the March 22 attack in the absence of a key suspect, Sasun Aghajanian.

 

The former chief bodyguard of Babayan, Aghajanian was last month taken to a psychiatric clinic in Yerevan with a serious mental illness. Artsax prosecutors say he was one of the two gunmen who wounded Ghukasian and his two bodyguards.

 

PRESS REVIEW

 

"Aravot" says the fact that President Kocharian has himself appealed to the Constitutional Court was a "lifebelt" for opponents of parliament speaker Armen Khachatrian who were reluctant to take court action against the latter. One of them, Victor Dallakian of the Republican Party (HHK), now claims that the parliament sitting during which Khachatrian's resignation was discussed proceeded with "substantial procedural violations." Asked why he cried foul one week after the debates, the chairman of the parliament committee on state and legal affairs replies: "Discussion of any sensible proposal at the September 26 sitting was simply meaningless."

 

It is already obvious to "Haykakan Zhamanak" what the Constitutional Court's ruling will be. It says the Court will invalidate the session in question, including the vote on Khachatrian's resignation, on the grounds that there were major violations of parliament regulations.

 

"Iravunk" notes that it would have been more "natural" if the deputies themselves had appealed to Armenia's highest court. "Although at first glance Robert Kocharian has adopted a neutral position, his latest move suggests that he seeks to speed up the showdown." The paper predicts that the Constitutional Court will rule that sufficient number of deputies voted for the speaker's resignation, but because of numerous procedural violations the resignation can not be deemed accepted. Nonetheless, Khachatrian has "committed political suicide." Even his party, the HZhK, is now against him. Prime Minister Markarian and his HHK are also in a very difficult situation. They will find it hard to get out of the "trap" they are now in. Only Kocharian has large room for maneuvers.

 

"Why do HZhK members think that politics has no rules?" asks "Hayots Ashkhar." "How can that political force represent the National Assembly majority and at the same time be in radical opposition to that majority?"

 

"Azg" also begins its analysis of the political situation with a question. "If the once formidable Miasnutyun bloc has lasted for just one and a half years then what will be the fate of a new majority which is to be formed as a result of this shaky cooperation [between the HHK and five other parties]?" The paper does not rule out similar parliamentary crises in the near future. It says the root cause of this complicated situation is that Armenian parties do not have clear-cut positions on fundamental issues facing the country. "It is not clear who is responsible for the government and who represents the opposition. In these circumstances it is impossible to have a sound political atmosphere and ensure normal legislative activities."

[Guest]

US House panel approves Armenian genocide bill

 

By Christopher Wilson

 

 

WASHINGTON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Ignoring Turkish condemnation and warnings from the Clinton administration that relations with Ankara could be hurt, a U.S. House of Representatives panel on Tuesday approved a resolution saying the killing of 1.5 million Armenians by Turks in 1915 was genocide.

 

The powerful House International Relations Committee approved the nonbinding but politically explosive resolution by a vote of 24-11, with an alliance of Republicans and Democrats supporting it and two members abstaining.

 

The resolution, which has outraged Turkey -- a close U.S. political and military ally -- urges President Bill Clinton to characterise ``the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1.5 million Armenians as genocide.''

 

It is now on track for a vote by the full House but will not be sent to the Senate or the president.

 

Turkey reacted by urging the full House to drop the bill.

 

The resolution was ``against the historical facts,'' Turkey's state-run Anatolian news agency quoted a statement by the Foreign Ministry as saying, adding that its approval ``would have negative impacts on normalising relations between Turkey and Armenia and on the peace initiatives in Caucasus as well as having serious reflections on Turkish-U.S. relations.''

 

The Clinton administration, which has urged Congress to drop the resolution, expressed regret at the committee's passage of the measure.

 

TURKISH CONDEMNATION

 

``If this resolution is adopted by the full House ... it will not assist and will likely complicate our efforts to bring peace and stability to the Caucasus and harm our relations with Turkey, our strategic partner in the region,'' the State Department said in a statement.

 

``It is in our mutual interest that important and longstanding bilateral ties withstand this resolution.''

 

The Turkish parliament on Sunday condemned the resolution and Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer telephoned Clinton on Monday to express his concern.

 

Turkey has fiercely rejected the charges of genocide, saying people on both sides were killed during partisan fighting as the Ottoman empire collapsed 85 years ago.

 

The committee approved an amendment to clarify that the ``government of the Ottoman empire'' and not modern Turkey was at fault. But Mehmet Ali Irtemcelik, Turkey's former minister responsible for relations with Europe who was in a large Turkish delegation attending the meeting, said it would be impossible for U.S.-Turkish relations not to be affected.

 

``You're talking about genocide,'' he said. ``The Turkish nation will never accept the charge because it didn't happen.''

 

Republican Representative Porter Goss of Florida, the chairman of the House Select Intelligence Committee, told lawmakers passage of the resolution could hurt U.S. strategic interests in the region and damage cooperation with Turkey.

 

``We are talking about long-term and short-term consequences, both of which are serious to the security of the United States,'' Goss said.

 

Turkey is a major buyer of U.S. arms and a key player in regional oil pipeline projects. The air bases U.S. warplanes use to police the no-fly zone in northern Iraq are in Turkey.

 

STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE

 

Adding weight to critics' arguments, a group of former senior U.S. officials -- including former Defence Secretary William Perry and former Secretary of State Alexander Haig -- sent a letter to the panel emphasising Turkey's strategic importance and urging lawmakers to oppose the resolution.

 

That, however, failed to impress some panel members. ``What we're being asked to do is ignore a historical fact ... because it complicates our foreign policy. And I think that's a very dangerous thing to do,'' said Representative Sam Gejdenson of Connecticut, the senior Democrat on the committee.

 

Similar measures have been blocked in Congress in the past 20 years, but this time the issue has been swept up in election-year politics as Republicans face a tough battle to retain their majority in the House.

 

Democrats claim House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, has helped to push the latest version of the resolution to try to help embattled Representative James Rogan win re-election on Nov. 7 in his southern California district, which has a large Armenian-American population.

 

18:46 10-03-00