WASHINGTON – A House panel defied President Bush on Wednesday and approved a measure that he said would damage U.S. goals in the Middle East.
The measure that would recognize the World War I-era killings of Armenians as genocide had been strongly opposed by Turkey, a key NATO ally that has supported U.S. efforts in Iraq.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee’s 27-21 vote now sends the measure to the House floor – unless the Democratic leadership reverses course and heeds Bush’s warnings.
At issue is the killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I. Turkey denies that the deaths constituted genocide, says the toll has been inflated and insists that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.
Bush and other senior officials made a last-minute push to persuade lawmakers on the Foreign Affairs Committee to reject the measure.
“Its passage would do great harm to our relations with a key ally in NATO and in the global war on terror,” Bush said hours before the vote.
The committee’s chairman, Democratic Rep. Tom Lantos, expressed concerns about security implications of the resolution but ultimately voted in favor.
Turkey raised the possibility of impeding logistical and other U.S. military traffic now using Turkish airspace.
“Unfortunately, some politicians in the United States have once again sacrificed important matters to petty domestic politics despite all calls to common sense,” President Abdullah Gul was quoted as saying by the state-run news agency Anatolia.
On Wednesday, hundreds of Turks marched to the U.S. Embassy in Ankara and the consulate in Istanbul to protest the bill.
Armenian-American groups, who have worked for decades to pass a resolution, rejoiced at the committee’s approval of the message.
“The Foreign Affairs Committee’s adoption today of the Armenian Genocide Resolution represents a meaningful step toward reclaiming our right – as Americans – to speak openly and honestly about the first genocide of the 20th century,” said Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America.
