WASHINGTON (ArmRadio)-The Obama administration believes the passage of the Armenian Genocide resolution on Thursday was inappropriate, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, reported ArmRadio, citing Turkish sources.
"We have made that clear to all parties involved," she said, while responding to a question about the resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs.
A journalist asked: "Before entering the administration, both you and President Obama supported the campaign to label 1915 incidents as ‘genocide.' In recent days, both you and he have made direct appeals to Howard Berman, the chairman of the House's Foreign Affairs Committee, against the draft resolution. Could you explain why you and the president have reversed course on this issue?"
Clinton responded: "Well, I think circumstances have changed in very significant ways. When President Obama took office and I became secretary of state, we determined that the process undertaken by Switzerland in bringing the Turkish and Armenian governments together was a very worthy one that we intended to support, and we have done so. I was personally in Zurich at the time when the protocols for the normalization of the relationship between the two countries were signed. We think that is the appropriate way to manage the problems that have stood in the way of normalization between the two countries."
"I do not think it is for any other country to determine how two countries resolve matters between them, to the extent that actions that the United States might take could disrupt this process," she said.
"Therefore, President Obama and I have made clear, both last year and again this year, that we do not believe any action by the Congress is appropriate, and we oppose it. We do not believe that the full Congress will or should act upon that resolution, and we have made that clear to all the parties involved," the Hurriyet Daily News cited Clinton as saying.
