From: Abraham Rein (ARein@sorosny.org)
Date: Tue Oct 03 2000 - 13:05:53 EDT
ARMENIA DENIES PRESSURING U.S. CONGRESS OVER GENOCIDE BILL.
Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ara Papyan on 2 October
rejected a statement unanimously approved by the Turkish
parliament the previous day accusing Armenia of pressuring
the U.S. Congress to adopt a bill in effect recognizing as
genocide the killings in Ottoman Turkey in 1915 of an
estimated 1.5 million Armenians, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau
reported. The Turkish statement warned the Armenian
leadership to stop raising the issue in the international
arena or risk a further deterioration of its already strained
relations with Turkey. Papyan said that Ankara should raise
with Washington its objections to the U.S. bill rather than
blame support for it on Armenia. He added that "threatening
statements" from the Turkish authorities are unacceptable.
Papyan explained that while seeking recognition that the 1915
deaths were genocide is one of Armenia's foreign policy
priorities, Yerevan is not seeking to exacerbate relations
with Turkey. "On the contrary, we believe that problems
between the two peoples can be overcome if they jointly try
to find acceptable solutions." he said. LF
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