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U.S. President George W. Bush walking to the Oval Office on Wednesday. (AP) del.icio.us Digg It!  new Last update - 23:55 10/10/2007 U.S. House committee passes Armenian genocide resolution By The Associated Press bolic, and do not require Bush's signature. Advertisement Turkey calls the resolution an insult and rejects the Armenian position, backed by many Western historians, that up to 1.5 million Armenians suffered genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks during World War One. Turkey has warned of damage to bilateral ties if Congress passes the measure. Speaking as the House committee was preparing to vote on the measure that Turkey insists could severely damage its relations with the U.S., Bush said that "Its passage would do great harm to our relations with a key ally in NATO and in the global war on terror." Shortly before the president spoke, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates stood before microphones on the White House driveway to express the administration's concerns. "The passage of this resolution at this time would be very problematic for everything we are trying to do in the Middle East," Rice said. Gates said that 70 percent of U.S. air cargo headed for Iraq goes through Turkey, as does about a third of the fuel used by the U.S. military in Iraq. "Access to air fields and to the roads and so on in Turkey would very much be put at risk if this resolution passes and Turkey reacts as strongly as we believe they will," Gates said. He also said that 95 percent of the newly purchased Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles are flying through Turkey to get to Iraq. Turkey made a final direct appeal to U.S. lawmakers to reject the resolution. The U.S. vote coame as Turkey's government was seeking parliamentary approval for a cross-border military operation to chase separatist Kurdish rebels who operate from bases in northern Iraq. The move, opposed by the United States, could open a new war front in the most stable part of Iraq. "I have been trying to warn the (U.S.) lawmakers not to make a historic mistake," said Egemen Bagis, a close foreign policy adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A measure of the potential problem came in a warning the U.S. Embassy in Ankara issued Tuesday to U.S. citizens in Turkey of demonstrations and other manifestations of anti-Americanism throughout Turkey if the bill passes the committee and gets to the House floor for a vote, the embassy statement said. On Wednesday, hundreds of Turks marched to U.S. missions in Turkey to protest the bill. In Ankara, members of the left-wing Workers' Party chanted anti-American slogans in front of the embassy, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported. A group of about 200 people staged a similar protest in front of the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, private NTV television said. Anatolia quoted a party official as saying that the genocide claim was an international, imperialist and a historical lie. The basic dispute involves the killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed by genocide scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey denies that the deaths constituted genocide, says the toll has been inflated, and insists that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest. Armenian-American interest groups also have been rallying supporters in the large diaspora community to pressure lawmakers to make sure that a successful committee vote leads to consideration by the full House. On Tuesday, Bryan Ardouny, executive director of the Armenian Assembly of America, sought to shore up support in letters to the committee's chairman, Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., and its ranking Republican member, Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. "We have a unique opportunity in this Congress, while there are still survivors of the Armenian genocide living among us, to irrevocably and unequivocally reaffirm this fact of history," he said. Bookmark to del.icio.us Mover and baker N.Y. celebrity baker Ron Ben-Israel created a two-ton cake to mark the Plaza's centennial. Show must go on The glory of making the pilgrimage to NYC and play against the Knicks has its price.   1.   Bush: The Ahmedinejad of the West 19:40  |  Arthur 10/10/07   2.   When In Doubt, Blame the Jews! 19:41  |  massaraksh 10/10/07   3.   The World Is Getting Out Of Control Again 20:05  |  Yosemite 10/10/07   4.   Sorry Yosemite, but what you say is non-sense 20:21  |  Arthut 10/10/07   5.   Imagine the Holocause being recognized after 92 years 20:22  |  Steven 10/10/07   6.   Arthut 21:22  |  Ellis 10/10/07   7.   Arthut 21:23  |  Yosemite 10/10/07   8.   This WAS A HOLOCAUST 21:26  |  Man on a rock 10/10/07   9.   Why stop with the Armenians? 21:27  |  Natallie Durson 10/10/07   10.   Another (Holocaust) denier 21:32  |  Dave 10/10/07   11.   Its commonly known 21:37  |  Leon 10/10/07   12.   Time to be on the right side Mr. Bush 21:45  |  Viken 10/10/07   13.   It is a resolution - not a bill 21:59  |  Ethel 10/10/07   14.   Genocide of the Armenians 22:01  |  leven5 10/10/07   15.   Question of restitution 22:07  |  Ethel 10/10/07   16.   turkey screwed up the relationship when they refused 22:25  |  terrornator 10/10/07   17.   Turkish Jews side with Turkey...a profile of cowardice 22:51  |  ArNOLD 10/10/07   18.   man on a rock 23:00  |  Connie 10/10/07   19.   Holocaust 23:02  |  Greg 10/10/07   20.   Man on a rock 23:05  |  akiva (zionist) 10/10/07   21.   It just passed the markup committee 23:28  |  Ethel 10/10/07   22.   THE TURKS ARE IN DENIAL 00:16  |  redeyez 11/10/07   23.   Armenian Diaspora doesn`t care about Armenia 00:23  |  Ekrem 11/10/07   24.   Subject 15 00:25  |  Ekrem 11/10/07   25.   Viken ,12 00:29  |  Ekrem 11/10/07   26.   Don`t get mad, get even 00:31  |  Ekrem 11/10/07   27.   GOOD FOR JEWS!CONDI WORRIED IT`LL DAMAGE PLANS FOR "NEW" MID-EAST 00:45  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 11/10/07   28.   the House should heed Bush`s warning 00:53  |  Mehmet Sezer 11/10/07   29.   terrornator the United States has used bases 01:00  |  Mehmet Sezer 11/10/07   30.   Good for Lantos! Congratulations for standing up 01:01  |  dana 11/10/07   31.   Its about time 01:50  |  Ruben 11/10/07   32.   #17 Hypocrisy: Turkish Jews have no choice 02:04  |  Semsem 11/10/07   33.   the Armenian genocide--a Turkish/Kurdish jihad 02:24  |  bob 11/10/07   34.   Pointless and assinine 02:32  |  Mark Lincoln 11/10/07   35.   Why Do Most Armenians hate Jews? 02:33  |  Martin 11/10/07   36.   GOOD FOR JEWS!CONDI WORRIED IT`LL DAMAGE PLANS FOR "NEW" MID-EAST 02:40  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 11/10/07   37.   Why are people afraid of offending extremists? 02:45  |  Gili 11/10/07   38.   Neutrality is at times a graver sin than belligerence.” 03:07  |  Roger 11/10/07   39.   Bush: hoisted yet again 03:38  |  Hannah 11/10/07   40.   Turkey is just like Iran`s Dictator A Mad Jihad 03:50  |  cristo 11/10/07   41.   Thank you my friends 04:08  |  Armen 11/10/07   42.   Semsem - What fool you are! 04:14  |  Arnold 11/10/07   43.   #16 Um, Terrornator 04:20  |  ballistic 11/10/07   44.   Imperial politics at play 05:34  |  Joe 11/10/07   45.   Shame on America 05:49  |  Double Click 11/10/07   46.   Does the word Genocide apply? 05:51  |  David Israel 11/10/07   47.   Armenian Genocide 07:36  |  Hadas 11/10/07   48.   A STUPID MOVE FOR THE US, BUT A GOOD ONE FOR THE WORLD 08:04  |  indrajaya 11/10/07   49.   Martyrdom common to Christianity 08:38  |  Ser Hagopian 11/10/07   50.   Despite Shimon Perez 11:43  |  ed 11/10/07   51.   Turks and history 11:56  |  ed 11/10/07   52.   Armenian-Istanbul. 12:28  |  ed 11/10/07   53.   U.S. House committee passes Armenian genocide resolution 18:24  |  Phonk 11/10/07   54.   Mark Lincoln 19:35  |  Greg 11/10/07   55.   Phonk - you are a joke 19:37  |  Greg 11/10/07   56.   Jewish support for Armenian claim is bizarre 19:39  |  Joseph 11/10/07   57.   Joseph 20:02  |  Greg 11/10/07   58.   Genocide of American Indians while your at it. 02:42  |  Dubbya 12/10/07   59.   POLITICS cannot ERASE genocide 03:55  |  cristo 12/10/07

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