Officials said leading members of the administration, including
President George Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney, have urged leaders
of the Democratic-controlled Congress to block the anti-Turkish resolutions.
They said Bush and Cheney warned of a serious decline in U.S.-Turkish
relations should Congress pass a resolution that blames Ankara for the
killing of some 1 million Armenians during World War I.
"At the end of the day, the U.S. policy will not change regardless of
what Congress does on this," U.S. ambassador to Ankara Ross Wilson said. "We
would like to see the resolution not pass," Middle East Newsline reported.
Over the next week, Congress could vote on a series of anti-Turkish
resolutions. They included resolutions that recognize the Turkish genocide
of Armenians as well as condemns the killing of a Turkish-American
dissident.
The proposed condemnation, scheduled to be examined by the Senate
Foreign Relations
Committee on Wednesday, would also demand that Ankara abolish a law that
outlaws criticism of the Turkish state. The resolution also demanded that
Turkey establish diplomatic relations and trade with Armenia.
"The overall effect of these resolutions, particularly coming one after
another, would be overwhelmingly negative and would harm strategic
relations," a senior administration official said.
The administration official said the resolutions could be passed during
the current American-Turkish Council, held in Washington. The annual meeting
has been attended by senior U.S. and Turkish officials and commanders, and
discussed Iran, Iraq, the Kurdish insurgency and U.S. weapons proposals to
Ankara.
"The two nations should oppose measures and rhetoric that needlessly and
destructively antagonize each other," U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates
said on Tuesday. "That includes symbolic resolutions by the United States
Congress as well as the type of anti-American and extremist rhetoric that
sometimes finds a home in Turkey's political discourse."
Gates told the council that the U.S. relationship with Turkey was
"undervalued and under-appreciated." He said Turkey's geographical position
was vitally important to U.S. security, and welcomed Ankara's decision to
allow 16 U.S. Navy ships to make Turkish port calls in 2006.
Officials said that over the last six months, Turkey has significantly
increased military and strategic relations with the United States. They also
cited Turkish permission for U.S. fighter-jets to conduct exercises from the
Incirlik air force base in the south near Iraq and Iran.
"Everything has been said," visiting Turkish Deputy Chief of Staff Gen.
Ergin Saygun said. "I hope it [the resolution] doesn't pass."
