The March 8 statement came four days after the House Foreign Affairs
Committee voted to endorse a resolution on the Armenian genocide. After the
23-22 vote, Ankara threatened to impose sanctions on aerospace and defense
cooperation with Washington, Middle East Newsline reported.
Boeing has been a leading aerospace contractor in Turkey. The company
has been prime contractor in the supply of four airborne early-warning
aircraft to the Turkish Air Force.
Earlier, U.S. aerospace lobbyists warned that the House vote could
derail plans for major contracts in Turkey. They said Ankara was expected to
order $11 billion in defense and aerospace platforms from the United States
in 2010.
"Critical national security, economic and diplomatic relations with our
ally Turkey are threatened," Marion Blakey, president of the Aerospace
Industries Association, said.
But the Turkish lobby in the United States did not expect the Armenian
genocide resolution to win approval on the House floor. Lobbyists pointed
out that the non-binding resolution was passed in the House Foreign Affairs
Committee in 2000, 2005 and 2007, but blocked from reaching the House floor
through heavy pressure by the White House.
"The resolution has passed the panel vote with the narrowest possible
margin and has no political credibility [in Congress]," American-Turkish
Council president James Holmes, a former U.S. ambassador, told the Turkish
daily Hurriyet. "Those who were in favor did so purely from a local
political perspective."