Posted on 10/16/2007 1:49:26 PM PDT by jazusamo
October 16, 2007
Democrats are split on the value of bringing a controversial Armenian genocide resolution to a floor vote.
Five House Democrats plan to hold a news conference Wednesday to urge their leadership not to bring the resolution to the floor, although the measure passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee last week with strong Democratic support.
Reps. Alcee Hastings of Florida, John Murtha of Pennsylvania, Robert Wexler of Florida and Steve Cohen and John Tanner, both of Tennessee, will participate in the news conference. They plan to urge House leadership to “reconsider its decision” to bring the Armenian genocide resolution to the floor.
The non-binding resolution would require the president to call the killing of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians between the years 1915 and 1923 “genocide.”
Turkish officials have said the resolution will harm relations between Turkey and the United States. Turkey acknowledges hundreds of thousands of Armenians died as modern Turkey grew out of the crumbling Ottoman Empire, but Turkish officials contend the killings were part of a civil war and that atrocities were committed on both sides.
Top administration officials have warned Congress that Turkey could respond to the resolution’s passage by blocking access to an airbase critical to the supply of troops in Iraq.
Despite the pushback, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has indicated she would bring the controversial resolution to the floor. California is home to a significant number of Armenian-Americans, including some who came to the United States after fleeing the World War I-era upheaval.
The House has passed similar resolutions in past decades.
President Ronald Reagan also once referred to what happened to Armenians as they were being pushed out of what became eastern Turkey as genocide. During his presidency, however, Bill Clinton also worked to block an Armenian genocide resolution from passing the House.
“...including some who came to the United States after fleeing the World War I-era upheaval.”
So, how old are these people?.........................
A most excellent point! More fodder as to the real motivation to centure the Ottomans!
“And while genocide should be condemned by all societies and their members, I have to wonder why the Dems (and you, apparently) are leap-frogging over the much more recent and closer Rwanda genocide for the much older and farther Armenian one.”
I can’t speak for the Democrats or the Republicans who support it, though I believe for some of them, their constituents (such as the author Schiff of Pasadena) are Armenians.
For me it’s just personal. My grandmother was in one of the death marches at age 5 and survived it herself (taken as a slave by a Turk) but watched her grandmother and other friends and relatives die of thirst while being forced to walk until they dropped to their deaths. My grandfather’s family members were all killed, but they put him on a boat leaving for America in time to save his life.
These people were not “combatants,” as the Turkish government has always claimed. They were Armenian Christians killed because they were “infidels.” So to me, it’s a sad thing that a simple resolution just acknowledging that fact has never been allowed.
You have my sympathy. Injustice should be confronted whenever it appears, not 90 years afterwards. What Madame Pelosi was doing was USING your emotions for their own narrow and partisan poilitical agenda, for the sake of power, and at the expense of the Nation. In that regard, she isn’t much better than the Turks who oppressed your family so long ago.
It talks about Turkey in Section 2, paragraph 27
On June 5, 1996, the House of Representatives adopted an amendment to House Bill 3540 (the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1997) to reduce aid to Turkey by $3,000,000 (an estimate of its payment of lobbying fees in the United States) until the Turkish Government acknowledged the Armenian Genocide and took steps to honor the memory of its victims.
That’s about an AMENDMENT TO AN APPROPRIATIONS BILL WAY BACK IN 1996 WHEN THE REPUBLICANS CONTROLLED HOUSE.
House RESOLUTION 106 is entirely different from H.R. 3540.
RESOLUTIONS ARE NOT APPROPRIATIONS BILLS. Resolutions are simply SENSE OF THE HOUSE statements, i.e. they do not authorize money and they don’t go to the President for his signature.
Either you can’t read or you think I can’t.
I’m no fan of Pelosi, but it could be that she has a large Armenian constituency.
Nevertheless, whatever her personal reasons, the current resolution is no different than the other brought up by the past Republican Speaker, Hastert.
It really doesn’t matter because it’s dead and so are the people it’s about; so they don’t care anymore.
What galls me is the double standard of people like Bush, who call Darfur “genocide,” what happened in Germany the “Holocaust,” but call the Armenian genocide a mere “tragedy” in order to mollify Turkey.
We all know that.
And Hastert listened to President Clinton's objections, even though we were not engaged in a War in Iraq at that time..
SPEAKER HASTERT WITHDRAWS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION (in 2000)
Citing Clinton Administration Claims that its Consideration Would Threaten American Lives, Speaker Withdraws Measure Only Moments before Adoption by HouseWashington, DC -- Citing claims by President Clinton that the consideration of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.596) would endanger American lives, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert today broke his pledge to bring the measure to the House floor, acceding to the President's request that he withdraw the resolution. This action was taken only moments before the resolution was to come to the House floor for a vote, reported the H.Res.596 Committee.
Hastert's statement; Clinton's statement
Hastert:
The Congress, while it has a right to express its opinions on critical issues of the day, also must be cognizant of the consequences of those opinions.
The President has made plain his very strong concerns about the timing of this resolution and its possible impact on our interests in the Middle East. We must take these concerns into consideration, especially given the latest developments in the Middle East.Clinton:
I fully understand how strongly both Turkey and Armenia feel about this issue. Ultimately, this painful matter can only be resolved by both sides examining the past together.
Now these totalitarians want to cotrol the language used by the President in foreign policy. Unreal. By the way, did anyone see Frontline last night on PBS? Total hit-piece on Cheney, Bush.
I’ve had the evening to think this through a bit. Obviously, there is something between Murtha and Pelosi...There must be some behind the scenes mutual loathing.
What bothers me, is why isn’t anyone from the media confronting Pelosi et al on the reasons and timing of this measure? If she wanted to make a statement, do so locally..in her district...
I think this would be similar to the Turkish gov’t passing a resolution stating that the US Military committed gencide against the our Indian populations. Would we be upset if they did so.... probably not....
BUT...it they Turkey are looking for something albeit trivial to inflame their population, which in turn would have them attacking into IRaQ then this could be it...
Clearly, they are more sensitive to this than we are...
nick
Well, we do know that Pelosi and Murtha were big allies coming into the current congress. Pelosi even backed Murtha for Majority leader, but the dems picked Hoyer instead. Maybe Murtha doesn’t think Pelosi did enough to swing the vote. And Hastings was NOT picked by Pelosi for the Intelligence committee, so perhaps this is ax grinding on his part.
The MSM won’t touch the roots of this because it exposes the the motives of the dems (as well as their foolishness).
Unfortunately, I think just bringing this thing out of committee has done enough damage to hurt the war effort. I don’t think it can be fixed anymore. We’ll have to live with the consequences, I’m afraid.
Then why did you insinuate that this resolution carried any penalties or reparations?
If I understood your point in your posts, and I think I did.
“Everyone knows the current resolution refers to Turkey.”
That’s, of course, obvious. Nobody’s denied it.
“in 2000”
Exactly. This latest “good reason” has nothing to do with the war in Iraq. I think it’s apparent that it’s another bogus excuse.
The truth is the lobbyists are powerful (not only Turkey but Israel is also on record as being against the resolution).
So be it. Actually, it no longer means anything to the people who are already dead anyway.
I disagree. Actually, it has everything to do with Iraq. And if passing this resolution would harm even one of our soldiers in Iraq, then it's a bad resolution at a bad time. I don't consider saving US military lives to be a "bogus excuse". Why do you? Your personal family issue notwithstanding, that's still no reason to wish for something that would ultimately cause harm to our military.
It has everything to do with Iraq?
Let’s see:
What do you suppose, then, was the reason for disallowing resolutions recognizing the genocide by the government in the 1920s? How about the 1930s? How about the ‘40s, ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s?
For fear of harm to our troops all those decades too?
Looks like Turkey’s multimillion dollars spent lobbying all these decades have paid off well.
Of course, there’s really no reason now, then, to be outraged at Ahmadinijad, et al. for denying the Holocaust, is there?
Could you explain what you mean?
I didn’t word that correctly. What I meant was in the 1920s, ‘30s, ‘40’s, etc. through today, there has always been a reason for not recognizing the genocide. That’s why I’m extremely skeptical of the latest reason, that being about protecting our troops in Iraq.
Suffice to say, Turkey has spent millions lobbying against genocide recognition all along. Why, I don’t know. If they had simply acknowledged it decades ago, just as Germany acknowledged the Holocaust, it would have been dropped and left as past history.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.