The last minute efforts of U.S. President Barack Obama was not enough to prevent passage of so called Armenian genocide resolution in the Foreign Affairs Committee of U.S. House of Representatives.
U.S. President Baracak Obama, made a last minute call to the representatives to vote “No” for the Res.252 that recognizes so called Armenian genocide. On the other hand, members of Foreign Affairs Committee of U.S. House of Representatives did not attach much importance to the call of White House. Making a statement before the voting takes place, White House Speaker Mike Hammer said that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talked to the Chairman of the House Committee of Foreign Affairs Howard Berman. Clinton warned Committee chairman Berman that approval of “genocide” resolution will damage Turkey-U.S. relations and Turkish-Armenian rapprochement process.
A few hours before the voting, Ankara made its last moves to change the picture in the Washington. President Abdullah Gul made a phone call to U.S. President Barack Obama to express his concerns related to so called Armenian genocide resolution.
One of the representatives that voted “No” in the “genocide” voting, Mike Pence stressed that passage of the resolution will damage Turkey-U.S. relationsand said, “Because Turkey is one of the most important allies of United States. They have an important role in Afghanistan and Incirlik military base has strategic importance for US. Passage of the resolution would affect us more than Turkey.” Another representative that opposed passage of the resolution, Michael McMahon said that passage of the resolution will risk the security of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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