H. Res. 106 passes the House Foreign Affairs Committee
The House Foreign Affairs committee was taking up H. Res. 106 this afternoon on whether to finally recognize the Armenian Genocide. George Bush took the stand this morning to ask House members to reject the measure, arguing it could damage bilateral relations with Turkey.
Turkey has indeed launched an all-out effort against the resolution, enlisting the help of many former politicians turned lobbysts -- especially former Rep. Dick Gephardt, a big advocate of similar resolutions in the 1990s who has now turned into the leader of the Turkish lobby as reported by the TNR last month. The situation is so comical that Turkey is threatening to invade Iraq's Kurdish region if the House approves this resolution today. Current House members have also stunningly reversed course in the past few weeks. Rep. Jim McDermott, a Democrat from Seattle, was one of the bill's co-sponsors, but he is now saying that there is no evidence this was a genocide: "The issue in large measure is between the Armenian Christians and the Muslim Turks. We are being asked to pick a winner." No further comment needed...
After years of tergiversations (Hastert famously pulled the bill hours before a full House vote. It was later revealed Hastert had received half-a-million dollars from Turkish interest groups), The matter finally reached the House Foreign Affairs Committee this afternoon. Read the Chairman's introductory remarks here.
And the results are just in: The measure passed 27-21, and is headed towards a full House vote in the next month. The exact roll call is for now not available, but it appears most yay voters were Democrats.
The measure might also soon reach the Senate, where it already has 32 co-sponsors (led by Democrat Dick Durbin and Republican John Ensign). Hillary Clinton and Harry Reid are one of the bill's co-sponsors. This would force all the presidential candidates that are in the Senate to record a public vote on the issue. Bush had implied before his election in 2000 that he would recognize the Armenian Genocide, before backing down once he got to the White House. With Armenian-American voters politically powerful in the key primary state of California, it could very well be that the presidential candidates will not take the risk of alienating a key constituency.
Turkey has indeed launched an all-out effort against the resolution, enlisting the help of many former politicians turned lobbysts -- especially former Rep. Dick Gephardt, a big advocate of similar resolutions in the 1990s who has now turned into the leader of the Turkish lobby as reported by the TNR last month. The situation is so comical that Turkey is threatening to invade Iraq's Kurdish region if the House approves this resolution today. Current House members have also stunningly reversed course in the past few weeks. Rep. Jim McDermott, a Democrat from Seattle, was one of the bill's co-sponsors, but he is now saying that there is no evidence this was a genocide: "The issue in large measure is between the Armenian Christians and the Muslim Turks. We are being asked to pick a winner." No further comment needed...
After years of tergiversations (Hastert famously pulled the bill hours before a full House vote. It was later revealed Hastert had received half-a-million dollars from Turkish interest groups), The matter finally reached the House Foreign Affairs Committee this afternoon. Read the Chairman's introductory remarks here.
And the results are just in: The measure passed 27-21, and is headed towards a full House vote in the next month. The exact roll call is for now not available, but it appears most yay voters were Democrats.
The measure might also soon reach the Senate, where it already has 32 co-sponsors (led by Democrat Dick Durbin and Republican John Ensign). Hillary Clinton and Harry Reid are one of the bill's co-sponsors. This would force all the presidential candidates that are in the Senate to record a public vote on the issue. Bush had implied before his election in 2000 that he would recognize the Armenian Genocide, before backing down once he got to the White House. With Armenian-American voters politically powerful in the key primary state of California, it could very well be that the presidential candidates will not take the risk of alienating a key constituency.
posted by Taniel at
5:39 PM
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