Turkey says U.S. Armenian bill would hurt ties

Saturday, February 10, 2007
Washington Post
Reuters

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Saturday a planned U.S. bill branding the mass killings of Armenians during World War One as genocide would set back Turkish-American ties and hurt U.S. interests.

A bill recognizing the killings of as many as 1.5 million Armenians on what is now Turkish soil in 1915 as genocide is currently before the House of Representatives in Washington.

"(This bill) will endanger (U.S.) security interests," Gul said in a televised speech on his return from a week-long trip to the United States, without specifying how.

"Damage to relations would be permanent."

Turks fear the bill will pass through Congress under its new Democratic leadership.

Turkey denies claims by Armenia and other countries that some 1.5 million Armenians died in a systematic genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks.

Gul, who met Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said he had the support of President George W. Bush.

"Bush and Rice will warn Congress members about the bill because it is a potential danger to U.S. interests," he said.

The United States shares a number of security concerns with Turkey in the Middle East, and relies heavily on the U.S. military base at Incirlik in the south of the country.

NATO member Turkey, bordering Iran, Iraq, and Syria is also seen as a bulwark against Middle Eastern instability.


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