Over Bush Objections, House Panel OKs Armenia Bill

Resolution calls Turkey killings 'genocide'

By Will McCahill, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 10, 2007 8:34 PM CDT

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Over Bush Objections, House Panel OKs Armenia Bill — President Bush makes a statement outside the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007. The Bush administration strongly urged the U.S. Congress on Wednesday to reject legislation that would declare the World War I-era killings of hundreds of thousands of Armenians a genocide.... (Associated Press)

A House committee today approved a resolution calling World War I-era killings of Armenians by the Turkish government "genocide," despite warnings from the White House and an intense lobbying effort by Turkey. The resolution is largely symbolic, the New York Times reported, but its passage by the full House could have broad consequences reaching as far as Iraq.

“Despite President George Bush twisting arms and making deals, justice prevailed,” said Rep. Brad Sherman, a California Democrat who sponsored the resolution. Turkey—a key US ally and a major staging point for US troops—says the deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians were not part of a calculated campaign, but rather the result of the war that followed the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and brought about the modern nation. (More Armenia stories.)

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