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=> Bill Would Recognize the Armenian Genocide

Bill Would Recognize the Armenian Genocide

Posted by Maggie (Guest) - Wednesday, January 31 2007, 17:09:54 (CET)
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Bill would recognize Armenian genocide
By Desmond Butler Associated Press
Article Launched: 01/31/2007 01:53:46 AM PST

WASHINGTON - Democratic and Republican lawmakers, including co-sponsor Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, introduced a resolution Tuesday calling for U.S. recognition of the World War I-era killings of Armenians as genocide. The move will likely anger Turkey and is expected to be opposed by President Bush.

The lead sponsors in the House of Representatives say they have commitments from more than 150 other members, who want to add their names as co-sponsors after the bill is introduced, a strong show of support in the 435-member body.

The sponsors, who held a news conference Tuesday attended by two Armenian survivors of the killings, say that the move to Democratic control in Congress increases chances that the bill will reach the House floor for a vote. Similar resolutions have been introduced in the past, but were kept from a full vote by congressional leaders.

Along with Schiff, co-sponsors include Republican George Radanovich, who represents Fresno. Both areas have large populations of Armenian Americans.

Charter Communications, which provides cable TV service to many cities in the San Gabriel Valley, said it would air coverage of Schiff's Tuesday press conference in Pasadena and Altadena at 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday on channel 56. In surrounding cities, Charter customers can see the program at 8p.m. beginning Monday through the following Sunday, also on channel 56. The cablecast will include an interview with a 100-year-old survivor of the genocide.
The bill, which will recognize the deaths of the 1.5 million Armenians almost a century ago, is likely to touch raw nerves in Turkey. The Bush administration has warned that even congressional debate on the genocide question could damage relations with a key Muslim ally and NATO member.

The resolution's supporters say that the leader of the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat who has expressed support for the resolution, is likely to come under pressure from the Bush administration to keep the House from voting on the bill.

"Make no mistake, the speaker will get a call from the president asking for no vote on the grounds of national security," Radanovich said.

Turkey has adamantly denied claims by scholars that its predecessor state, the Ottoman government, caused the Armenian deaths in a planned genocide. The Turkish government has said the toll is wildly inflated and that Armenians were killed or displaced in civil unrest during the empire's collapse.

"While there are still survivors among us, we have, I think, the highest ethical obligation to recognize the losses of their families," Schiff said.

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