A US congressional resolution that would recognize World War I-era killings of Anatolian Armenians as genocide could go forward despite opposition from the Obama administration.

Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon, the US State Department’s top diplomat for Europe, told reporters on Wednesday that there is no deal with Democratic congressional leaders to block the resolution. That contradicts earlier claims by the State Department.

“Congress is an independent body, and they are going to do what they decide to do,” Gordon said during a news briefing before a speech on US relations with Turkey at the Brookings Institution.

At the same briefing, Gordon also urged support for more sanctions against Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program, saying Ankara could face consequences if it moves out of step with the international community.

Turkey strongly opposes the resolution adopted by the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, recalling its ambassador to the US after the committee approved the measure on March 4. The Obama administration has urged lawmakers not to allow it to proceed to a vote by the whole House of Representatives.

“We would like to see the ambassador here. We think he should be here, making Turkey’s case,” Gordon said of Turkey’s ambassador to the US, Namık Tan.

It is not clear that proponents of the resolution have sufficient support to pass it or that the leader of the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, is prepared to bring it to the floor for a vote.

“I recognize that we have a tough job ahead of us to garner the necessary support,” said the resolution’s chief sponsor, Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California.

Gordon said that the resolution had created an obstacle for reconciliation talks between Turkey and Armenia. The two countries reached a deal last year to normalize relations and open their border, but it has not yet been ratified by their governments. Gordon denied that the process has stalled. “I really think that those two countries’ leaderships are committed to doing this,” he told reporters.

He said the Obama administration thinks that the historical issues are best addressed by the two countries as part of the reconciliation talks.

Armenians say that up to 1.5 million of their ancestors were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I. Turkey, however, denies that the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has been inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.


Note: This article, as with others collected by ArmeniaNow for this category, has been posted according to the originating source. ArmeniaNow is not responsible for its content, nor for translation.