US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said the House committee resolution recognizing the killing of Armenians as 'genocide' should go no further.
Hillary Clinton said in Costa Rica, straight after the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee vote, that the Obama administration had made its intentions clear:
'We do not believe that the full Congress will or should vote on that resolution and we have made that clear to all the parties involved,' Clinton said.
A day earlier, prior to the committee vote, Clinton had urged committee chairman Howard Berman – a 27-year veteran congressman from California – not to bring the resolution to a vote. Berman (a co-sponsor of HR252), did not heed the secretary’s appeal, leading to the narrow (23-22) approval.
HR252 has received co-sponsorship from about 140 members of Congress.
Prior to the vote, Obama had a phone conversation with Turkish President Abdullah Gul that was seen as the US president assuring Gul that he (Obama) was not in favour of the resolution.
The withdrawal of Ambassador Namik Tan was followed by rebuke from Gul, who said his country was being accused of 'a crime it did not commit'.
In Yerevan, though, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian called the vote 'proof of the devotion of the American people to universal human values' and 'an important step toward the prevention of the crimes against humanity'.
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