Turkish PM welcomes shelving of US 'genocide' bill

Monday November 5, 2007
Raw Story, MA

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while he is holding the gun at the USA, says do you believe the truth or believe what I say? What a shame! Erdogan you are so transparent! America you have seen better days! The bastion of freedom no more, down you go with Turkey!

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Monday welcomed a decision by US lawmakers to shelve debate on a bill labeling Ottoman Empire massacres of Armenians during World War I as "genocide."

Speaking after talks here with President George W. Bush, Erdogan said the House of Representatives resolution on "the so-called Armenia genocide ... has the potential to deeply damage our strategic cooperation."

Fierce pressure from Turkey and the White House appears to have paid off for now, with the resolution's Democratic authors agreeing late last month to delay a full House of Representatives vote after the bill was upheld by the foreign affairs committee.

"We view this with cautious optimism," Erdogan said at the National Press Club, thanking the Bush administration and House members who had spoken out against the resolution for fear of its damage to ties with Turkey.

"We are ready to settle accounts with our history, but our documents indicate that no such genocide took place. In fact our values do not permit our people to commit genocide," the Turkish leader said.

"Those who claim it, must prove it," he said, renewing his offer to the Armenian government to set up a joint historical commission to examine the claims of genocide dating from the dying years of the Ottoman Empire.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.