American Ties at Serious Risk, Turkish General Says
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ISTANBUL — Turkey’s top general warned that ties with America, already strained by attacks from rebels hiding in Iraq, will be irreversibly damaged if Congress passes a resolution that labels the World War I-era killings of Armenians a genocide.
Turkey, which is a major cargo hub for American and allied military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, has recalled its ambassador to Washington for consultations and warned that there might be a cut in the logistical support to America over the issue.
General Yasar Buyukanit told daily Milliyet newspaper that a congressional committee’s approval of the measure had already harmed ties between the two countries.
“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,” General Buyukanit was quoted as saying by Milliyet.
“I’m the military chief, I deal with security issues. I’m not a politician,” General Buyukanit was quoted as saying by Milliyet. “In this regard, the U.S. shot its own foot.”
President Bush has said the resolution is the wrong response to the Armenian deaths, but House Speaker Pelosi said the measure’s timing was important “because many of the survivors are very old.”
“It is a statement made by 23 other countries. We would be the 24th country to make this statement. Genocide still exists, and we saw it in Rwanda; we see it now in Darfur,” she told ABC’s “This Week” in an interview broadcast today.
But Rep. John Boehner said the measure was “irresponsible.”
“Listen, there’s no question that the suffering of the Armenian people some 90 years ago was extreme. But what happened 90 years ago ought to be a subject for historians to sort out, not politicians here in Washington,” he told “Fox News Sunday.”
About 70% of American air cargo headed for Iraq goes through Turkey as does about one-third of the fuel used by American military there. American bases also get water and other supplies carried in overland by Turkish truckers who cross into Iraq’s northern Kurdish region.
In addition, C-17 cargo planes fly military supplies to American soldiers in remote areas of Iraq from Incirlik, avoiding the use of Iraqi roads vulnerable to bomb attacks. American officials say the arrangement helps reduce American casualties.
Secretary of State Rice has “urged restraint” from Turkey and sent two high-ranking officials to Ankara in an apparent attempt to ease fury over the measure which could be voted on by the House by the end of the year.
General Buyukanit’s remarks were published a day after a visit by an assistant secretary of state for European affairs, Dan Fried, and an undersecretary of defense for policy, Eric Edelman.
“Secretary of State Rice Condoleezza Rice asked us before we came here to express that the Bush administration is opposed to this resolution,” Mr. Edelman said yesterday.
At issue in the resolution is the killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks. Many international historians contend the World War I-era deaths amounted to genocide, but Turkey says the mass killings and deportations were not systematic and that many Turkish Muslims died in the chaos of war.