Ataturk.com

Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Baku, October 12, 2007 - The U.S. House of Representative's Foreign Affairs Committee adopted the draft Resolution 106, which characterizes the events of 1915 in Ottoman Empire related to relocation of the part of the Armenian population collaborating with invading forces, as "genocide".

The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan condemns this decision as wrong and biased and considers it harmful for the developments in the region and globally.

Azerbaijan supports the Turkish call to examine the archival documents related to the World War I tragedies in this part of the world. It is crucial to learn all details before taking steps.

Azerbaijan suffered itself from notorious ethnic cleansing by Armenia, vivid example of which is genocide in Azerbaijani town of Khojaly, where hundreds of women, kids, and elderly people have been killed. Azerbaijan, which is also a victim of numerous terrorist acts and occupation of territories by Armenia, knows well how Armenian diaspora and Government hide their own misdoings through the aggressive propaganda.

MFA of Azerbaijan strongly urges the U.S. House of Representatives to refrain from adopting the Resolution 106 in order to demonstrate that the United States Congress is impartial and not under the pressure of ethnic lobbies.

Though times for Turkish & US relationships

On Wednesday (October 10, 2007), in a 27-21 vote, the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs passed the measure labeling the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces during World War I was "genocide."

Turkey (a NATO member and a key U.S. ally in the war on terror) accepts Armenians were killed but calls it a massacre during a chaotic time, not an organized campaign of genocide.

Turkey on Thursday recalled its ambassador to the United States and warned of repercussions in the growing dispute.

President Bush and key administration figures lobbied hard against the measure, saying it would create unnecessary headaches for U.S. relations with Turkey.

The full House could soon vote on the genocide resolution. A top Turkish official warned Thursday that consequences "won't be pleasant" if it approves the measure.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates earlier this week pointed out, "Seventy percent of the air cargo, American air cargo, going into Iraq goes through Turkey. Seventy percent of the fuel that goes in for our forces goes in ... through Turkey ...

"For those who are concerned that we get as many of these mine-resistant ambush-protected heavy vehicles into Iraq as possible, 95 percent of those vehicles today are being flown into Iraq through Turkey."

Turkey has threatened restricting U.S. access to Turkish airspace or cut off access to the air base at Incirlik, Turkey after congressional moves to declare that the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in World War I was "genocide."

The initial assessment is that any cutoff from current access to Turkey would force the U.S. military into longer cargo flights, which would mean extra costs for fuel and for wear and tear on equipment. It may also look for other air hubs in Jordan or Kuwait, officials say.

The resolution arrives at a particularly sensitive point in U.S.-Turkish relations. The United States has urged Turkey not to send its troops over the border into northern Iraq to fight Kurdish separatist rebels, who launched some cross-border attacks against Turkish targets.

The Turkish military is poised to strike across the border to fight the group -- the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK -- a move opposed by the Bush administration. The Turkish parliament could give approval for the incursion into Iraq as early as next week.

Article source: CNN.com

OPPOSE H.RES 106, Write to US Congress Today!

Dear Friend,

As you know, leading Turkish American organizations are helping Turkish Americans and friends of Turkey to make their voice heard in U.S. Congress with respect to H.Res.106 and S.Res 106 which legislates WWI history and a criminal conviction against people of Turkish heritage and Turkey, without the benefit of due process. Acts like these harm the United States’ image aboard and undermine U.S. interests worldwide and they certainly ruin all chances of sustainable reconciliation between Turks and Armenians by further participating in a campaign of hatred against Turkish Americans and Turkey.

Please visit this Action Alert page to send a fax message to your U.S. Representative. This system matches you with your own Representative and sends your email in the form of a fax to him/her.

Being Heard On Campus

September 25, 2007
By Tulin Daloglu

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at Columbia University made me think about freedom of speech on America's college campuses.

Mr. Ahmadinejad - who represents a country the State Department calls a state sponsor of terror, who represents a country that helps Iraqi militias to kill American troops and who denies the Holocaust and calls for Israel's destruction - was allowed to speak at one of America's most prestigious campuses. But Archbishop Mesrob II Mutafyan, the Armenian patriarch of Istanbul, was denied the same privilege last week at Georgetown University's Woodstock Theological Center.