Turkey's attention turns to the UK‏

ANKARA EYES BRITISH MEASURE ON ARMENIA
United Press International UPI
March 15 2010

ANKARA, Turkey, March 15 (UPI) -- Ankara is watching lawmakers in
London as they get set to deliberate over a national day of remembrance
for the deaths of Armenians during the Ottoman era.

Turkey pulled its ambassador to Sweden last week after Swedish
lawmakers narrowly approved a resolution describing the killing of
Armenians in World War I as genocide. The Turkish envoy to Washington
was recalled when a similar measure narrowly passed March 4 in the
U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs.

A measure is on its way to the British Parliament that if adopted
would set aside an "Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day." British
lawmakers are to review a draft of the measure this month.

Nilgun Canver, a council member in the London Borough of Haringey,
told Turkey's English-language daily newspaper Hurriyet that there was
"no chance" the measure would pass.

Ankara expressed similar optimism regarding the U.S. measure, citing
a last ditch-appeal to shoot down the non-binding resolution by U.S.

Security of State Hillary Clinton. The measure passed on a 23-22 vote.

Armenia wants Turkey to recognize the killings as genocide but Turkey
has said there was no systematic attempt to wipe out the Christian
Armenian people in 1915.

ERDOGAN TO VISIT UK
PanARMENIAN.Net
15.03.2010 13:22 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
is traveling to UK on March 15 on the invitation of his British
counterpart Gordon Brown. Mr. Erdogan will be accompanied by Deputy
Prime Minister Cemil Cicek, Foreign Trade Minister Zafer Caglayan,
State Minister Egemen Bagis, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and
some members of parliament.

Turkish-British relations, Turkey's EU bid, Cyprus problem as well
as regional and international issues will be in focus, TRT reported.

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
March 14 2010
British parliament takes center stage in 'genocide' recognition row
Sunday, March 14, 2010
ANKARA ` Hürriyet


Following the Swedish parliament's adoption Thursday of an Armenian
`genocide' resolution, many people who support using this terminology
for the Ottoman-era deaths in 1915 are looking to Britain next.

A second reading of a resolution in the British parliament will held
April 30 before it is submitted to a House of Commons committee. If it
is approved, an `Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day' will be
established in the country.

The resolution approved by the Swedish parliament Thursday recognized
as `genocide' the killings of Armenians and other Christian minorities
during the final days of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey has long denied
that the deaths constituted genocide, arguing that both Armenians and
Turks were killed in civil strife.

The British committee is scheduled to hold its last evaluation in late
March; the first reading of the draft was made Jan. 6. A similar draft
will follow the same process in the British House of Lords.

If the resolution is approved, it will be submitted to the queen of
England. If she does not reject the proposal, it will become legal and
Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day will be officially recognized in the
country.

Though Labour Party deputy Andrew Dismore and 11 other English
parliamentarians support the proposal, one local politician says the
resolution will fail, citing two reasons.

First, the make-up of the parliament will change after the May 6
elections, said Nilgün Canver, a member of the Haringey city council
and the founder of the parliamentary group of friends from the Labour
Party. She added that none of the political parties in Britain want to
risk angering Turkey, daily Hürriyet reported.

`The resolution supporters are the members of a small group that
opposes Turkey,' Canver told Hürriyet. `There is no chance for the
approval of the resolution in the British House of Lords.'