US State Dept. doesn’t look with favor on Resolution’s approval

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told congressmen that the passage of the resolution, calling the mass killings, deportations and executions of Armenians in 1915 in Turkey as Genocide, will damage the U.S.-Turkey relations, which are already fragile. So, probably, the Obama administration will urge Congress to hold off on the Resolution 252.

The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee passed Thursday, March 4, the Resolution 252, declaring the Ottoman-era killing of Armenians as genocide, by a vote of 23 to 22. Turkey immediately said recalls its Ambassador to the U.S. for consultations. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the Resolution’s approval will influence the relations between Turkey and the U.S. and will call off the process of reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia.

Besides, Turkey may now deny the US access to the Turkish air base, a staging post for Iraq.

Turkey traditionally denies mass killings, deportations, executions, starvations and other means against the Armenian population in Turkey that resulted in more than 1,5 million deaths among the Armenians.

Genocide of 1915 is recognized by Uruguay (recognized and condemned earliest, 1965), Russia, France, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Canada, Chile, Argentina, and 42 States of America; by Vatican, the European Parliament, and the World Council of Churches.