Turkey recalls US Ambassador, Considers Invading Iraq
Looks like the US can't contain the fall out over its flagrant double standards.
Ankara is recalling its ambassador to Washington for consultations amid anger at a vote in Congress labelling the mass killing of Armenians as genocide.The passing of the resolution by a House committee on Wednesday despite appeals by the Bush administration was denounced by President Abdullah Gul.
Turkey accepts there were mass killings in 1915-17 but denies genocide.
Turkey's foreign ministry said the ambassador would return to Turkey for a stay of "a week or 10 days".
"We are not withdrawing our ambassador," said ministry spokesman Levent Bilman.
"We have asked him to come to Turkey for some consultations."
US President George W Bush had argued against the resolution, saying its passage would do "great harm" to relations with "a key ally in Nato and in the global war on terror".
Turkey is a regional operational hub for the US military, and some suggest access to Incirlik airbase or other supply lines crucial to US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, could be affected by the row.
The US also fears Turkey may make a military incursion into northern Iraq to neutralise Kurdish separatist guerrillas there, who continue to cross the border to ambush Turkish troops.
'Unacceptable and invalid'
The non-binding vote, passed by 27 to 21 votes by members of the congressional House Foreign Affairs Committee, is the first step towards holding a vote in the House of Representatives.
A German soldier took photos of Armenian deportees at the time
It was welcomed by Armenian President Robert Kocharyan who said he hoped for "full [US] recognition... of the genocide".
The influential Armenian diaspora in the US has lobbied for years for a recognition of the killings under the Ottoman Empire as genocide.
At least 20 countries at various levels of legislation have passed resolutions on this issue.
For Turkey's president, the US vote showed that some US politicians had "closed their ears to calls to be reasonable and once again sought to sacrifice big problems for small domestic political games".
"This unacceptable decision of the committee, like similar ones in the past, is not regarded by the Turkish people as valid or of any value," Mr Gul said late on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed that the Turkish parliament would discuss allowing military incursions into northern Iraq, possibly next week.
The move comes after an escalation in attacks by the PKK killed almost 30 soldiers and civilians in just over a week.
Mr Erdogan said such authorisation, which would be valid for one year, would ensure all options were available to Turkey in its fight against the PKK.
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Thanks, Susan
The Turks can squawk all they like. They’re threatening to close the U.S. Air Base at Incirlik, which has 21 military units, and is the main base from which U.S. fighters and cargo aircraft fly to Iraq. And as QRS says, the Turks are threatening to invade northern Iraq. (They have approved an “incursion” plan). They are threatening to withdraw support for International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) operations in Afghanistan. They’re threatening this, threatening that.
Here’s what will probably happen now…
The House Foreign Affairs Committee is headed by Tom Lantos (R-CA), with the minority leader being Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). Both are ultra-zionist Jews. Lantos had to support the measure, because he has a lot of Armenians in his district. In fact, all 10 Californians on the Foreign Affairs Committee supported the resolution. Ros-Lehtinen, however, has few Armenians in her district. Therefore she opposes it.
The anti-genocide forces will try to delay a vote on the House floor until Congress finishes its current session. They will try to let it die. However, the resolution has 225 cosponsors in the House -- more than a majority, and the most support it has ever received. Its chief sponsor is Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-CA) who represents Burbank CA, which has a lot of Armenians. He’s pushing to get a vote before Thanksgiving.
I know Armenians. I grew up in an Armenian community. They will never stop on this issue. They almost got it in 1975, then 1984, and then 2000.
When the vote was taken, four Armenian survivors of the genocide were in the room. Three were in their 90s and one was 102 years old.
(Trivia: Armenia itself is slightly larger than Maryland, and home to some 2.9 million people. Some seven million Armenians live abroad, including one million in the U.S.)
SENATE
The Senate version is weaker. It has the support of Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Joe Biden, (D-DE), chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but it has only 32 cosponsors, which is well short of the votes needed to pass. Two prominent Jews Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Carl Levin (D-MI) have to support it, because they have a lot of Armenians in their district. This shows how powerful the Armenian Lobby is. They play hardball with zionists. The Armenian National Committee of America got 100,000 supporters to call lawmakers about the issue.
The Turkish Lobby is represented by the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA). They got a few hundred Turks to march in Washington and warn against passing the resolution.
Ultra zionist Jews Charles Schumer and Rain Emmanuel oppose it. Richard Lugar (R-IN), the Senate Foreign Relations Committee minority leader, doesn’t have many Armenians in his state. Therefore he’s towing the Bush line, and opposes the measure.
Barak Obama supports the resolution. Hillary gives lip service to it, but she’s owned by zionists.
"I consider myself a friend of Turkey, but friends don't let friends commit genocide, and then act as accomplices in their denial."
---Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.)
"We will get a few angry words out of Ankara for a few days, and then it's over. We cannot provide genocide denial as one of the perks of friendship with the United States."
-- Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA)