Turkish Daily News on Armenian Genocide bill: Troubles threaten Turkey

PanARMENIAN.Net - Cuneyd Zapsu, a top adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stated that a secret meeting was held with Democratic Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi this February on H. Res. 106 - the Armenian Genocide bill. Richard Holbrooke, a Democrat and a former top diplomat, arranged and attended the meeting. Holbrooke is known for his role in putting an end to the war in Bosnia as assistant to the Secretary of State in former president Bill Clinton's administration, Turkish Daily News reports. Zapsu voiced the Turkish government's concerns over the resolution, saying its passage by the House would seriously hurt bilateral ties with Ankara. The Pelosi-Zapsu meeting took place shortly after Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul also visited the U.S. capital in early February. But neither Gul nor three Turkish parliamentary teams visiting Washington one after another succeeded in their "struggle" against the bill and had talks with the House speaker.



At the same time the newspaper reminds that a number of worrying developments are taking place in recent weeks for Turkey, since the number of representatives cosponsoring the measure in late June rose to 218 in the 435-member House. "Obtaining the support of 218 lawmakers does not automatically enable the Armenians to force a House floor vote for the resolution, but means the overcoming of a psychological threshold. The resolution likely would reach the House floor agenda any time after early September, when Congress returns to work after a summer recess in August. But still this would come after critical parliamentary elections in Turkey on July 22," the newspaper underlines.