Turkey, GOP warn against vote on genocide

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House Democratic leaders say they will insist on a floor vote on a resolution calling the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks "genocide," despite Turkish leaders saying it will seriously hurt relations and Republican warnings that the measure is "the most irresponsible" action Congress can take.

"This resolution is one that is consistent with what our government has always said about what ... happened at that time," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said yesterday on ABC's "This Week."

"I said if it passed the [House Foreign Affairs Committee] that we would bring it to the floor," she said.

But yesterday, Turkey's military chief said the committee's action last week had already harmed U.S. ties with Turkey, which grants the U.S. use of its airspace and bases in its country to help fight the war in Iraq.

"If this resolution passed in the committee passes the House as well, our military ties with the U.S. will never be the same again," Gen. Yasar Buyukanit told the daily Milliyet newspaper. "I'm the military chief; I deal with security issues. I'm not a politician. [But] in this regard, the U.S. shot its own foot."

The issue is highly sensitive in Turkey, where it is a crime to describe the Armenian killings as genocide. Turkey recalled its ambassador to the U.S. after the committee vote and has threatened further retaliation.

The top House Republican said the resolution "may be the most irresponsible thing I've seen this new Congress do this year."

"Turkey is a very important ally in our war against the terrorists — in a very strategic location in the world," House Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio said yesterday on the "Fox News Sunday" program. "They are very upset about this resolution."

Mr. Boehner added that Congress is no place for the issue to be debated.

"Listen, there's no question that the suffering of the Armenian people some 90 years ago was extreme," Mr. Boehner said. "But what happened 90 years ago ought to be a subject for historians to sort out, not politicians here in Washington."