Clinton stops Genocide bill

Claudia Peschiutta

GLENDALE -- Fearing for the safety of Americans abroad, congressional

leaders on Thursday evening dropped a bill that would have brought

official U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide. The decision met with

strong criticism from some members of the Glendale community.

After pledging at a meeting held recently in Glendale that the measure

would be heard before Congress adjourns, House Speaker Dennis Hastert

(R-Ill.) yielded to requests from President Clinton and several defense

officials that the bill be kept from a vote.

Rep. James Rogan (R-Glendale) said in a telephone interview Thursday

afternoon he had met with Hastert and agreed with his decision.

“I told the speaker of the House that as important as the resolution

is to me and as important as it is to him ... we have to be patriots

first,” said Rogan, a co-sponsor of the bill.

“I don’t think any patriotic American would, at this particular

moment, put the resolution ahead of the lives of American service

personnel when the commander-in-chief and others in the military

establishment are indicating, in the strongest terms, that ... the risk

of loss of American lives is a real possibility.”

Clinton told Hastert in a letter Thursday that he was “deeply

concerned” that consideration of the bill at this time “could have

far-reaching, negative consequences for the United States.”

Secretary of Defense William Cohen and Secretary of State Madeleine

Albright urged, “in the strongest terms,” that the resolution not be

adopted.

“Passing judgment on this history through legislation, as H. Res. 596

does, could only have a severely negative impact on Turkish-Armenian

relations,” the two wrote in a letter to Hastert. “It would also have a

negative impact on our security and commercial interests in the region.”

Cohen and Albright emphasized the “critical role” of Turkey, a North

Atlantic Treaty Organization ally, in maintaining peace and stability in

the Middle East, Caucuses and Central Asia.

About 1.5 million Armenians were killed when exiled by the Ottoman

Turks in 1915. The Turkish government denies genocide allegations.

The bill, which had strong, bipartisan support, would have required

the president to use the word “genocide” in his annual address on the

issue.

A rally sponsored by the Armenian National Committee to seek support

for the bill drew hundreds of people to St. Mary’s Armenian Apostolic

Church in Glendale on Sunday.

Committee officials said Thursday they were profoundly disappointed by

Hastert’s decision to pull the bill.

“It was on the most fundamental level a morally wrong decision,” Aram

Hamparian, executive director of the ANC. “This was a comprehensive,

bipartisan effort to place the U.S. government on record on this issues

and to ... use this history to help avoid future genocide.”

Alex Sardar, executive director of the committee’s Western Region,

said the struggle for recognition will continue.

“The Armenian-American community will continue to fight until our

country recognizes the truth,” he said.