McClatchy DC Logo

Once again, quest for Armenian genocide resolution begins | McClatchy Washington Bureau

×
    • Customer Service
    • Mobile & Apps
    • Contact Us
    • Newsletters
    • Subscriber Services

    • All White House
    • Russia
    • All Congress
    • Budget
    • All Justice
    • Supreme Court
    • DOJ
    • Criminal Justice
    • All Elections
    • Campaigns
    • Midterms
    • The Influencer Series
    • All Policy
    • National Security
    • Guantanamo
    • Environment
    • Climate
    • Energy
    • Water Rights
    • Guns
    • Poverty
    • Health Care
    • Immigration
    • Trade
    • Civil Rights
    • Agriculture
    • Technology
    • Cybersecurity
    • All Nation & World
    • National
    • Regional
    • The East
    • The West
    • The Midwest
    • The South
    • World
    • Diplomacy
    • Latin America
    • Investigations
  • Podcasts
    • All Opinion
    • Political Cartoons

  • Our Newsrooms

National

Once again, quest for Armenian genocide resolution begins

Michael Doyle - McClatchy Newspapers

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 19, 2010 03:43 PM

WASHINGTON — The latest version of an Armenian genocide resolution is on track to win House committee approval, but its long-term prospects remain uncertain.

This plot is familiar. Some characters have changed. The denouement is still to be determined.

On March 4, the House Foreign Affairs Committee is set to vote on a resolution declaring that "the Armenian Genocide was conceived and carried out by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923." Some consider the resolution diplomatically dangerous, but vote-counters consider committee passage a foregone conclusion.

"We are confident of a positive outcome," said Bryan Ardouny, executive director of the Armenian Assembly of America. "We have a track record of the committee approving the resolution in the past."

SIGN UP

Typically, congressional committee chairs will only bring up measures they are confident will pass.

Residents of California's San Joaquin Valley, and other regions with large Armenian-American populations, are watching all of the action closely, and in some cases participating directly in it. The House panel's members include a number of resolution co-sponsors, including Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno.

Advocates of the resolution say it's important to account for the Ottoman Empire killings and depredations that occurred during and after World War I, when by estimates upward of 1.5 million Armenians died.

"Genocide is not something that can simply be swept under the rug and forgotten, and our nation cannot continue its policy of denial regarding the Armenian genocide," Costa said.

Approval by the 45-member House Foreign Affairs Committee, though, is a far cry from getting the diplomatically dicey resolution through the full 435-member House of Representatives.

Currently, for instance, the resolution has only 137 House co-sponsors, far short of the 218 needed for House approval. The last time the issue arose, in 2007, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declined to bring the resolution to the House floor until it had the requisite 218 co-sponsors.

Opponents are bringing out their big guns, warning the resolution would interfere with good diplomatic relations. Turkish and Armenian negotiators last year agreed to a set of protocols designed to smooth diplomatic relations, but the respective legislatures have not yet formally ratified them.

"That would be jeopardized by a political act of passing this resolution," said David Saltzman, chief counsel to the Turkish Coalition of America. "Passage of this resolution would be a potentially impenetrable hurdle (to reconciliation)."

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has likewise recently denounced the resolution as doing serious harm to U.S.-Turkey relations.

This plea of bad timing is one of the many familiar elements in the Armenian genocide fight.

In 2007, the Bush administration successfully argued the resolution would undermine the use of Turkish bases to resupply U.S. forces in Iraq. In 2000, then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert killed the resolution, citing "unusually tense" conditions in the Middle East.

High-powered lobbying is another familiar plot line.

Hastert is now registered as a lobbyist for the Turkish government. His firm, Dickstein Shapiro, has been paid up to $45,000 a month for its work on Turkey's behalf, public records show. One-time House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt is likewise a registered lobbyist for Turkey.

Some hope the arrival of the Obama administration will shake up these familiar faces and oft-heard arguments.

"A lot of things have changed," said Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America.

While they were in the Senate and campaigning, Hamparian noted, President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton all endorsed Armenian genocide recognition.

Presidents, though, often back away from their campaign-season Armenian genocide resolution pledges. Obama, for one, avoided the term "genocide" in his presidential Armenia proclamation in April. Reading between the lines, one might see further hints of a pending administration retreat on the resolution itself.

"Our view is that the negotiations that have been taking place between Turkey and Armenia offer a positive path for the future," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in early February. "Anything that would impede the success of those discussions and negotiations I think is objectionable. I would just leave it there."

  Comments  

Videos

See extended footage from DC Confrontation between teens and Native Americans

Dozens of teens criticized over treatment of Native American veteran at Lincoln Memorial

View More Video

Trending Stories

Hawley fights subpoena: ‘The judicial process does not exist to harass public servants’

February 15, 2019 10:35 AM

PAC plans new effort to put a black candidate on the 2020 Democratic ticket

February 15, 2019 12:02 PM

McClatchy editorial cartoons for the week of Feb. 11, 2019

February 15, 2019 11:47 AM

On offshore drilling, Mark Sanford and Joe Cunningham find their legacies are linked

February 15, 2019 05:00 AM

Mel Watt misused federal post, tried to ‘coerce’ worker into relationship, report says

February 15, 2019 04:02 PM

Read Next

McConnell’s opposition to Green New Deal comes as he backs coal

Congress

McConnell’s opposition to Green New Deal comes as he backs coal

By Lesley Clark

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 15, 2019 02:10 PM

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is fast-tracking a piece of Democratic climate change legislation he opposes, part of a record of supporting the coal industry.

KEEP READING

MORE NATIONAL

Trump to declare national emergency for border wall. We’re already under 31 others

National

Trump to declare national emergency for border wall. We’re already under 31 others

February 14, 2019 04:11 PM
Kansas lawmakers sponsor bill calling same-sex marriages ‘parody’

National

Kansas lawmakers sponsor bill calling same-sex marriages ‘parody’

February 13, 2019 08:46 PM
‘Most mergers do not create jobs.’ Sprint, T-Mobile tell Congress theirs is different

Technology

‘Most mergers do not create jobs.’ Sprint, T-Mobile tell Congress theirs is different

February 13, 2019 02:52 PM
Mitch McConnell is a 2020 target but Democrats don’t yet have anyone to take him on

Congress

Mitch McConnell is a 2020 target but Democrats don’t yet have anyone to take him on

February 13, 2019 04:10 PM
GOP isn’t giving up on California House seats, but even Republicans say wins are unlikely

Politics & Government

GOP isn’t giving up on California House seats, but even Republicans say wins are unlikely

February 13, 2019 03:01 AM
12 months, nearly 1,200 deaths: the year in youth gun violence since Parkland

National

12 months, nearly 1,200 deaths: the year in youth gun violence since Parkland

February 12, 2019 07:00 AM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

McClatchy Washington Bureau App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Newsletters
Learn More
  • Customer Service
  • Securely Share News Tips
  • Contact Us
Advertising
  • Advertise With Us
Copyright
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story