ISTANBUL (Marmara)–Turkish foreign minister Ismail Cem Monday–during a press conference in New York–where he is attending a summit of foreign ministers at the United Nations–said the he was extremely concerned over efforts in Congress to pass a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide.
Cem pledged that the Turkish government and the press will do its utmost to prevent the passage of such a resolution.
"We will be facing more difficulties in the future–since our opponents are doing a lot of work on this issue. The Armenia’s are addressing this matter far more than in the past," said Cem.
The Turkish foreign minister said that the Armenia’s were taking advantage of the 2000 presidential campaign to bring forth this matter–adding that he had information indicating that similar efforts will be launched in France to garner the passage of a Genocide recognition resolution in the French Senate. Furthemore–he added that Armenia’s were attempting to raise the Genocide issue in countries such as Italy and Spain.
He concluded by saying that presidents Jacques Chirac of France and Bill Clinton of the US have already expressed their opposition to such resolutions.
On Tuesday–US National Security spokesman PJ Crowley said that the White House did not believe that resolution of the Genocide issue should be done through legislation.
He further added that the passage of such a resolution in Congress would greatly impede the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process and direct talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan.