Genocide Resolutions Pass in IR Committee
Incredible. Both resolutions were debated and passes with overwhelming support today, even with a few surprises. The first surprise was Chairman of the International Relations Committee Rep. Hyde's strong support, which was predicted to be neutral at best. After many moving speeches, he expressed great pride that "his committee" spoke so boldly on the issue.
The one that dropped my jaw was Cong. Lantos voting FOR the resolution. For those who may not know Lantos's voting history on the matter, he has been one of our strongest opposers. He has spoken so aggressively against calling it a genocide, even in his speech today. He started by saying that he truly believes it was not a genocide, but he was so upset about Turkey's denial of US passage to Iraq through their borders, he decided to vote for it to spite Turkey. This is by far the wrong reason, and it sickens me that the genocide issue would be used as a politicall tool, but we'll take it. Keep in mind, Lantos is a Holocaust survivor.
Anyway, time to compare. The last genocide resolution as I mentioned before was a general resolution covering all acts of genocide. That one originally passed through the Judiciary Committee without discussion and passed through unanimously without debate. Unfortunately, it also never reached the full House floor. This time around, two resolutions were introduced simultaneously in the House, both focusing specifically on recognition of the Armenian Genocide, one particularly targeting Turkey's denial of genocide. Debated in the International Relations Committee, there were the few usual suspects who spoke against, Burton, Wexler, and I can't remember the other. So many others spoke so eloquently for the resolution, I thought it would be appropriate to share some highlights below. Before I do, I'll say this. It seems that we are slowly moving closer to a point where denying the genocide is becoming MUCH harder on the Hill, and soon enough it will be taboo. Turkey's grip on the US is slipping, and it's possible that the exposure of Turkey's attempts to bribe Hastert has convinced the few "neutral" Congressman to say "enough of this, let's just get this thing done."
So here are some quotes (not full text) from our US Congressmen on the International Relations Committee during today's debate:
CONG. HYDE (Chairman of the Committee)
The overriding purpose of your work and my work in congress is to promote the interest of the US. The argument has been made that these resolutions if adopted will be harmful to those interests by undermining our relationship w/ Turkey. This is a serious charge and worthy of serious attention. I very much believe the relationship is of great importance to us and the possibility of peace and stability in the volatile regions that Turkey borders. I don't believe that these resolutions will harm that relationship. They merely recognize the fact that the authorities of the Ottoman Empire deliberately slaughtered the majority of the Armenian community in that Empire. Denial of that fact can not be justified on the basis of expediency or fear that speaking the truth will do us harm. Having said this I want to strongly emphasize the need of the Republic of Turkey or the Turkish people bare responsibility for their crimes that undoubtedly took place.
CONG. SHERMAN
It's time for us to criticize the Ottoman Empire for the first Genocide of the 20th century. That's why we ought to pass these two resolutions.
We have to bring the resolutions to the floor.
CONG. CARDOZA
It is inexplicable to me how you can not denounce evil and the evil of genocide upon every occasion when evil becomes onto you.
CONG. MEEKS
That doesn't take away from the fact that when I look and I ask and I talk this out, I can feel the pain of the Armenian people who feel I'm sure the same pain I feel for my ancestors (through slavery).
I support this resolution simply because I believe it's the right thing to do.
I do believe that we go to acknowledge the fact that there were a people that unjustly were killed, were raped, were wronged simply because of their ethnicity. And you got to acknowledge that and we've got to try to heal and go better and do better.
CONG. MENEDEZ
In my view, America must recognize that the atrocities were committed, and those atrocities committed between 1915 and 1923 constitute genocide. We don't use that term lightly, but the word itself makes it a powerful statement that the horrors suffered by the Armenian people.
CONG. BERKELEY
The fact that every Armenian wasn't slaughtered doesn't mean that that wasn't the intention of the Ottoman Empire.
The reason this resolution comes up year after year is because this Congress fails to act upon it. This is an open wound for our American-Armenian fellow citizens. Our fellow citizens are coming to Congress to readdress their grievance and I am prepared to do that today.
CONG. ENGEL
This April will mark the 90th year anniversary of the attempted annihilation of the Armenian race that occurred in the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923. It's been said many times without appeal that one and half million Armenians were killed and over half a million who are survivors were exiled.
CONG. ROHRABACHER
We should be on the side of truth. And the truth is at least a million people were massacred and we need to recognize and the Turks need to recognize that and move on.
CONG. WATSON
This is about whether we as Americans are going to officially acknowledge one of the hideous crimes the world has ever known. 1.5 million Armenians were murdered in an organized, systematic fashion. This is about a documented fact and there is no way you can erase that factual history. And denying it, even by failing to call it what it is, genocide, is a disservice to the United States of America.
CONG. LANTOS
On March 2003, at a time when American forces were gathered on the Turkish border to enter Iraq and had they been allowed to do so, the entire evolution of going to Iraq would have been dramatically more favorable for American forces and a large numbers of American lives would have been spared. As a matter of fact, the ongoing violence today is in no small measure attributable to turkey's refusal to allow American forces to enter Iraq from the north. This was a matter of major and historic consequence that Turkey caused and some of us, certainly I, have not overlooked. More recently, Mr. Chairman, when the distinguished Prime Minister of Lebanon was assassinated in a huge suicide bombing episode in the heart of Beirut, the large numbers of innocent people dying, including Prime Minister Hariri, the only country on the face of this planet, which called for sympathy for the Syrian regime, which called for peace and stability and not disturbing the status quo, with respect to Assad of Syria was Turkey. I find this statement and this move incomprehensible. Be that as it may, our Turkish friends need to understand that support from the United States for matters that are important to them is predicated upon their support of things that are important to the United States. This is the prid pro quo that I asked for from Russia. This is the prid pro quo I'm asking for from India. And it is the prid pro quo I'm asking for from Turkey. Turkey ignored our interests with respect to Syria. Turkey ignored our interest with respect to the movement of our own armed forces. Under these circumstances, I will support both resolutions because I believe that our allies and friends from Russia to India to Turkey must understand that if they expect the United States to support matters of great interest to them, we in turn on a reciprocal basis expect them to support matters which are of great interest to us. I intend to vote for both resolutions and I thank you Chairman.
GONG. NAPOLITANO
Our friends must recognize that we all must be up front about with what is right and the recognition of the Armenian Genocide is right.
The one that dropped my jaw was Cong. Lantos voting FOR the resolution. For those who may not know Lantos's voting history on the matter, he has been one of our strongest opposers. He has spoken so aggressively against calling it a genocide, even in his speech today. He started by saying that he truly believes it was not a genocide, but he was so upset about Turkey's denial of US passage to Iraq through their borders, he decided to vote for it to spite Turkey. This is by far the wrong reason, and it sickens me that the genocide issue would be used as a politicall tool, but we'll take it. Keep in mind, Lantos is a Holocaust survivor.
Anyway, time to compare. The last genocide resolution as I mentioned before was a general resolution covering all acts of genocide. That one originally passed through the Judiciary Committee without discussion and passed through unanimously without debate. Unfortunately, it also never reached the full House floor. This time around, two resolutions were introduced simultaneously in the House, both focusing specifically on recognition of the Armenian Genocide, one particularly targeting Turkey's denial of genocide. Debated in the International Relations Committee, there were the few usual suspects who spoke against, Burton, Wexler, and I can't remember the other. So many others spoke so eloquently for the resolution, I thought it would be appropriate to share some highlights below. Before I do, I'll say this. It seems that we are slowly moving closer to a point where denying the genocide is becoming MUCH harder on the Hill, and soon enough it will be taboo. Turkey's grip on the US is slipping, and it's possible that the exposure of Turkey's attempts to bribe Hastert has convinced the few "neutral" Congressman to say "enough of this, let's just get this thing done."
So here are some quotes (not full text) from our US Congressmen on the International Relations Committee during today's debate:
CONG. HYDE (Chairman of the Committee)
The overriding purpose of your work and my work in congress is to promote the interest of the US. The argument has been made that these resolutions if adopted will be harmful to those interests by undermining our relationship w/ Turkey. This is a serious charge and worthy of serious attention. I very much believe the relationship is of great importance to us and the possibility of peace and stability in the volatile regions that Turkey borders. I don't believe that these resolutions will harm that relationship. They merely recognize the fact that the authorities of the Ottoman Empire deliberately slaughtered the majority of the Armenian community in that Empire. Denial of that fact can not be justified on the basis of expediency or fear that speaking the truth will do us harm. Having said this I want to strongly emphasize the need of the Republic of Turkey or the Turkish people bare responsibility for their crimes that undoubtedly took place.
CONG. SHERMAN
It's time for us to criticize the Ottoman Empire for the first Genocide of the 20th century. That's why we ought to pass these two resolutions.
We have to bring the resolutions to the floor.
CONG. CARDOZA
It is inexplicable to me how you can not denounce evil and the evil of genocide upon every occasion when evil becomes onto you.
CONG. MEEKS
That doesn't take away from the fact that when I look and I ask and I talk this out, I can feel the pain of the Armenian people who feel I'm sure the same pain I feel for my ancestors (through slavery).
I support this resolution simply because I believe it's the right thing to do.
I do believe that we go to acknowledge the fact that there were a people that unjustly were killed, were raped, were wronged simply because of their ethnicity. And you got to acknowledge that and we've got to try to heal and go better and do better.
CONG. MENEDEZ
In my view, America must recognize that the atrocities were committed, and those atrocities committed between 1915 and 1923 constitute genocide. We don't use that term lightly, but the word itself makes it a powerful statement that the horrors suffered by the Armenian people.
CONG. BERKELEY
The fact that every Armenian wasn't slaughtered doesn't mean that that wasn't the intention of the Ottoman Empire.
The reason this resolution comes up year after year is because this Congress fails to act upon it. This is an open wound for our American-Armenian fellow citizens. Our fellow citizens are coming to Congress to readdress their grievance and I am prepared to do that today.
CONG. ENGEL
This April will mark the 90th year anniversary of the attempted annihilation of the Armenian race that occurred in the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923. It's been said many times without appeal that one and half million Armenians were killed and over half a million who are survivors were exiled.
CONG. ROHRABACHER
We should be on the side of truth. And the truth is at least a million people were massacred and we need to recognize and the Turks need to recognize that and move on.
CONG. WATSON
This is about whether we as Americans are going to officially acknowledge one of the hideous crimes the world has ever known. 1.5 million Armenians were murdered in an organized, systematic fashion. This is about a documented fact and there is no way you can erase that factual history. And denying it, even by failing to call it what it is, genocide, is a disservice to the United States of America.
CONG. LANTOS
On March 2003, at a time when American forces were gathered on the Turkish border to enter Iraq and had they been allowed to do so, the entire evolution of going to Iraq would have been dramatically more favorable for American forces and a large numbers of American lives would have been spared. As a matter of fact, the ongoing violence today is in no small measure attributable to turkey's refusal to allow American forces to enter Iraq from the north. This was a matter of major and historic consequence that Turkey caused and some of us, certainly I, have not overlooked. More recently, Mr. Chairman, when the distinguished Prime Minister of Lebanon was assassinated in a huge suicide bombing episode in the heart of Beirut, the large numbers of innocent people dying, including Prime Minister Hariri, the only country on the face of this planet, which called for sympathy for the Syrian regime, which called for peace and stability and not disturbing the status quo, with respect to Assad of Syria was Turkey. I find this statement and this move incomprehensible. Be that as it may, our Turkish friends need to understand that support from the United States for matters that are important to them is predicated upon their support of things that are important to the United States. This is the prid pro quo that I asked for from Russia. This is the prid pro quo I'm asking for from India. And it is the prid pro quo I'm asking for from Turkey. Turkey ignored our interests with respect to Syria. Turkey ignored our interest with respect to the movement of our own armed forces. Under these circumstances, I will support both resolutions because I believe that our allies and friends from Russia to India to Turkey must understand that if they expect the United States to support matters of great interest to them, we in turn on a reciprocal basis expect them to support matters which are of great interest to us. I intend to vote for both resolutions and I thank you Chairman.
GONG. NAPOLITANO
Our friends must recognize that we all must be up front about with what is right and the recognition of the Armenian Genocide is right.
posted by Arsineh at 7:18 AM
13 Comments:
I watched the live webcast online. Very interesting experience, a first for me. One thing is for sure, there are a lot of nasty cold war hawks who have no shame in distorting history for their own selfish political games. Congressman Lantos reversed his vote this year, but I still think he is a stubborn old Bay area mule. How he is able to hold his seat in such a politically progressive community is beyond me. Anyway, thanks for posting this Arsineh.
No doubt, Lantos always has and always will be just a dirty politician and his reasoning for voting for the resolution is all wrong. This is not the purpose this resolution serves... a political tool to play with Turkey. But we can't change Lantos, only the Bay area folks can learn to vote for someone else. Until then, I'll take his vote (not that it mattered, both resolutions passed with overwhelming support.)
Great post! Speaker Hastert has a moral obligation and a civic duty to bring these resolutions to the House floor for a fair up or down vote. The time for Turkish apologists like Brent Scowcroft and Bob Livingston to stand in the way of justice is over.
jeff
www.vochmeban.blogspot.com
I have followed the Sibel Edmonds case the past year and a half or so, and I am just curious about the timing of these Resolutions- 1 month and a half after the Vanity Fair article. Were these Resolutions in the works before the VF revelations or were they spurred by the David Rose article?
The story goes... earlier this year, Cong. Schiff was pushing very strongly for an amendment to... I wanna say the appropriations bill to include a mention of the Armenian genocide (withholding $ to Turkey, or something along those lines) and he withdrew his amendment when Cong. Hyde promised to bring a full resolution on the genocide to a vote during the summer if he withdrew and introduced one. So he did upon that agreement (which he mistakenly received some criticism on). Soon after, Schiff introduced his resolution simultaneously with the other resolution, introduced by the Armenian Caucus Co-chairs, Knollenberg, Pallone, as well as Rep. Radanovich (who is also very active on Armenian issues). The reason for the 2 separate is still unclear, but it seems to be more of an ego related thing. No matter, it hurts no one.
So based on Hyde's promise to have a mark up in his committee during the summer, we waited on that. Actually, the article came out after that expected date, but as always, things in Congress get delayed, they went on a break before getting to the resolutions, the article came out, and when congress was back in session, almost immediately Cong. Hyde decided to have a mark up on both resolutions in his committee.
The article may or may not have had that much of an effect on this, as we have had resolutions pass easily in committees before, as the last resolution was passed in the judiciary committee without objection (though it was less controversial, being an "all inclusive genocide bill"). However, it's possible that the article contributed to there being less hesitation to vote for the bills, or for both better yet. The real test will be getting the bills to a full House vote. That is what the article may have some impact. Right now, most of the pressure is coming from the White House and State Department onto Hastert not to bring them to a vote. However, as Hastert is under scrutiny for accepting bribes from the Turkish government and ATC, that might make it harder for him to prevent the vote. What it definitely does do is give us more ammunition and credibility in our fight for a vote. We might get more media attention, more votes, more support, but it may still just come down to a no vote that gets brushed aside at a time of "bigger issues" which is how they usually silence the issue.
In my personal opinion, I think it will come down to a vote very soon (post-Christmas).
Well, I have to say it's wonderful news that the House passed the resolutions....now on to the next step: Any news on the Senate, and if our intrepid "leader", Dubya, will sign the resolution into law? We already know that his puppet Secretary of State is for Turkey's entry into the EU.
Thank you very much for providing me the narrative of how the Resolution came to pass. I just thought I would mention some interesting connections that might or might not mean anything. VF says the Turkish intel operation was based in Chicago and focused on Chicago and D.C. politicians [plural] in the 1997-1998 time frame. It's not clear if Hastert was the only target. But being originally from Glenview, IL, I know that former Congressman John Porter in Hastert's neighboring CD was a big supporter of the Armenian cause. I found a doc of the ATC that mentions he is one of 5 Congressmen the ATC visited in 1998 (2 years later he retired). I'm just wondering if the Turks saw Porter as a threat, and if they were trying to influence him or keep tabs on him. I can't think of any other Chicago area politician the Turkish government/mafia would be interested in- except for Henry Hyde, whose district is a bit removed from the city.
Finally, I would like to say that I find it highly curious that Tom Lantos is in effect saying "genocide is OK, as long as you let the US launch an invasion from your territory"
Sorry, I get carried away sometimes. :) I find that very interesting, but I'll tell you, this stuff doesn't surprise me. When the vote was pulled in 2000, many of us (Armenian/ANCA community) believed the Turks got to Hastert somehow. We often hear from Congressmen and elected officials that they get bombarded by the Turks when these resolutions come up. Infact, when the last resolution was introduced, friends of mine working for random congressional offices at the time told me that they were getting a lot of pressure from Turkey. I'm not sure that Porter gave in, I don't recall how he has voted in recent years off the top of my head.
But one Congressmen that Turkey has wrapped around their finger is Wexler from Florida. One of my interns last summer was from his district and managed to get a meeting with him. In the meeting, Wexler didn't deny it was a genocide and comfortably referred to it as "genocide" while making the arguement that it is a sensitive time to raise the issue, as to not upset Turkey, a very important ally. This is just as sickening as Lantos. The difference is that apparently Lantos TRULY believes it was not a genocide (as he clarified in his speech) and merely voted for the resolution to slap Turkey in the face for not helping us out in Iraq.
There I go rambling again. But there are so many stories of behind the scenes that connect all the dots, I feel compelled to share.
One in particular, apparently during the vote, Bob Livingston (lobbyist for Turkey) was seen in a private discussion with Cong. Radanovich (cosponsor of one of the bills) who didn't look too happy. I'm assuming this was before the votes passed.
Yes, I have heard about Wexler's relationship with the ATC. Also Alcee Hastings has been prominently displayed on the ATC web site before.
You might also find this interesting. This is what Hastert told his local hometown paper about the bribery allegations (as far as I know, this is his only public response so far):
"I had the secretary of state come and contact me three times saying 'don't move that bill' because we rely on Turkey to let us fly our planes through there," he said. "The president called me personally and said, 'I would hope that you wouldn't move that legislation. It would be diplomatically devastating.'"
...
"It's a very touchy thing," Hastert said.
You can read the whole article at this link:
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/opinions/columnists/fanselow/AU06_ED_S1.htm
what article in Vanity Fair?
Vaaaaaay vay vay vay VAAAYYYYYYY vay vay Haro jan. This is what you get for living in the South, so disconnected from the Armenian world. The Vanity Fair article was about a Turkish translator working for the FBI who exposed FBI wiretaps of conversations in 2000 between the Turkish Embassy and Congressional offices bribing them to block Section 907 at the time. It basically says that Hastert was bribed to block us. Very exciting, you should read my blog about it from August 5, 2005. I gave a "brief" summary of the story.
Oh, and Mike, that's EXCELLENT! I didn't realize Hastert had responded at all. It's a pretty weak statement to make, too. He doesn't even DENY the bribes. What confuses me is that the reporter mentions that not ticking off Turkey ended up being a valuable move because eventually we were able to fly planes over Turkey during the war, but there was no mention of Turkey rejecting the US from entering into Iraq through their boarders and putting American lives in harms way as a result. How does no one care about that?
And I resent that the reporter ends the article by saying that it's only fair to give ol "Denny Boy" the benefit of the doubt. When did reporters lose their guts?
Arsineh,
I hope I haven't bombarded your blog with too many posts, but I wanted to throw out there 2 articles I have written on the Edmonds case for Online Journal.
One article written two weeks before the VF article can be found here http://www.onlinejournal.com/Commentary/071305Mejia/071305mejia.html
The other one I wrote after the Hastert revelation is here http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/083105Mejia/083105mejia.html)
It all sounds like a bad conspiracy theory, until you realize what lengths the U.S. government has gone to keep Sibel Edmonds gagged.
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