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Capitol Hill - Source: ONE News
A US congressional panel has voted to label as "genocide" the World War One-era massacre of Armenians by Turkish forces, despite pressure from the Obama administration and Turkey to drop the matter.
The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee voted 23-22 to approve the non-binding resolution, clearing it for consideration by the full House.
But it is unclear whether the measure will get a floor
vote.
The move has sparked an immediate action from Turkey, with Prime
Minister Tayyip Erdogan saying he is seriously concerned the
resolution will harm its ties with the US and Armenia.
"We condemn this bill that blames the Turkish nation for a crime it did not commit. Our Washington ambassador was invited to Ankara tonight for consultations," Erdogan says in a statement posted on his office's website.
The resolution calls on President Barack Obama to ensure US policy formally refers to the massacre as genocide, putting him in a tight spot.
On the one side is NATO ally Turkey, which rejects calling the events genocide.
On the other side is an important US Armenian-American
constituency and their backers in Congress ahead of congressional
elections in November.
Armenia says the panel vote is a boost for human rights.
"We highly appreciate the decision," Armenian Foreign Minister
Edward Nalbandian says.
"This is further proof of the devotion of the American people to
universal human values and is an important step towards the
prevention of crimes against humanity."
Diplomatic concerns
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earlier telephoned House
Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, a fellow
Democrat, to argue the measure could harm efforts to normalize
Turkish-Armenian relations, the White House says.
Turkey and Armenia signed a protocol last year to normalize
relations but it has yet to pass through the parliament of either
country.
Despite Clinton's appeal, Berman went ahead with a committee debate and a vote.
He says Turkey is a "vital" ally but "nothing justifies Turkey's turning a blind eye to the reality of the Armenian genocide."
Muslim Turkey accepts that many Christian Armenians were killed by Ottoman forces but denies that up to 1.5 million died and that it amounted to genocide - a term employed by many Western historians and some foreign parliaments.
Congressional opponents have expressed concern about harming ties with Turkey, whose help the United States needs to solve confrontations from Iraq to Iran and Afghanistan.
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