Berman takes on Turkish Caucus

A controversial genocide resolution has led to some heated
words between House members.

In an April 13 letter, Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.),
chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, criticized lawmakers who
opposed a resolution that would recognize the killing of 1.5 million Armenians
by Ottoman Turks during World War I as genocide. Berman, a long-time backer of
the measure, called some of the arguments being made against the resolution as
“morally-blind.”

{mosads}“I disagree with many points in the letter, but I take
particularly strong exception to the use of the phrase ‘so-called ‘Armenian
Genocide Resolution,’’ which casts doubt on the historicity of the Armenian
Genocide. In doing so, it flies in the face of the overwhelming weight of
unimpeachable historical evidence and the virtually unanimous opinion of
genocide scholars,” Berman writes in his Dear Colleague letter.

The California Democrat was referring to another Dear Colleague
letter, this one dated March 29 and signed by Reps. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), Kay
Granger (R-Texas) and Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), the three co-chairs of the
Congressional Caucus on U.S.-Turkish Relations. In their letter, the three
lawmakers asked their peers to call on Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to not
let the resolution come up for a floor vote.

A spokeswoman for one of the members said it seemed as if
Berman misread their letter.

“The chairman’s entire letter seems to emanate from a
misreading of the words he referenced. The words ‘so called’ modify or refer to
‘Resolution’ — not to ‘Armenian Genocide’ — hence, the ‘so called Resolution’
or the ‘so called Armenian Genocide Resolution,’” said Whitfield spokeswoman
Kristin Walker.

Walker also said the letter has not been released to Pelosi
yet and has more than 20 lawmakers signing onto it so far.

In their letter, the three members argue the resolution will
cause “irrevocable harm” to U.S. foreign policy as well as “derail” the
normalization process between Turkey and Armenia, which has been helped along
by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, if it is voted on by the full
House. They also believe the measure could hurt the U.S. economy, considering
the more than $10 billion shipped to Turkey in U.S. exports each year.

In his response, Berman takes issue with all of the Turkish
Caucus leaders’ points, saying that Turkey would not give up seeing U.S.
intelligence on anti-Turkey militants in Iraq or forgo U.S. investment because
of the measure. He also believes the normalization process between Armenia and
Turkey has stalled not because of the U.S. resolution but because disagreements
both sides have had on the deal instead.

On March 4, Berman’s panel approved the resolution on a
tight vote of 23-22 in its favor. Armenian-American groups pushed for the
measure while Turkey heavily lobbied against the resolution, recalling their
ambassador in protest hours after the committee vote.

The fervor has since tempered. While remaining relatively
quiet about the measure at first, the Obama administration made a more forceful
case against it after the panel vote. Turkey’s ambassador has since returned to the
United States.

It is unclear whether the resolution will get a House floor
vote before the genocide’s anniversary of April 24, which Armenian-American
groups would like to see — or even at all this year. It has gained some new
supporters since the panel vote and now has 140 co-sponsors but Pelosi has not
said when the measure will be considered by the full House.

Messages asking a Pelosi spokesman when a vote would take
place were not returned before press time.