Transcript [PDF] - House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats

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need to be aware of that and we need to condemn it, but at the
same time we have to look at things as they are today.
Now, right now we have troops in Afghanistan who are fighting
on the border in Pakistan. We have troops in Iraq, which is right
next to Turkey, and at Incirlik we have a base and that base is in
Turkey and that is an ally of ours in the NATO alignment. Now,
this isn’t going to help the understanding between the United
States and Turkey.
As a matter of fact, the last time we went into this I think the
Turkish Ambassador went home for some time, and if we pass this
resolution I think it is going to jeopardize the relations we have
with Turkey. I don’t think with our troops in the field and knowing
that we may have to take some kind of military action down the
road against maybe even Iran, we need to have as many friends
in that part of the world as possible, and Turkey has been a friend.
There is no question horrible things happened, and I see these
ladies and these gentlemen that are out here who suffered during
that time period and I have read in the historical documents about
people who suffered on the Turkish side as well. There is no question
that these things happened, but the question is, is it the right
thing today to pass this kind of resolution What good is it going
to do I don’t see that it is going to help anything.
Now, the two countries in question are trying to negotiate a settlement
to bring in international experts to look at all the historical
facts and come up with some kind of a conclusion. It seems to me
that is the best way to let this thing be solved, but for us today
to ram this thing through and jeopardize our relationship with Turkey
at a time when our troops are in the field and we are in war
makes no sense to me.
I want to say one more time we have sympathy for the people
that suffered during that time. We understand tragedies occur. We
understand horrible atrocities occurred. There is no question about
that. But we are in the twenty-first century. We have troops in the
field, and we run the risk of losing a base of operation——
Mr. ACKERMAN. Would the gentleman yield
Mr. BURTON. I cannot yield. I am almost out of time. But we run
the risk of losing a base of operation in Turkey that I think is vital
to the security of the Middle East and the United States, and I
think it is also vital to Israel’s security as well and so I feel very
strongly about this.
Mr. Ackerman, you and I work together and we are very close,
but we just have a little disagreement on this.
Mr. ACKERMAN. Would the gentleman yield for his final 2 seconds
Mr. BURTON. I am out of time, but I would have yielded had I
had the time.
Chairman BERMAN. The time of the gentleman has expired. I ask
unanimous consent that the ranking member be allowed to speak
out of order in order to clarify a statement that she seeks to clarify.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. I just
want to rectify my opening statement. I had said that the administration
in a rather forceful way had not taken any decision on this
resolution, and I have just been handed an AP wire. I will just read
the first sentence: ‘‘The administration is urging a U.S. congres-
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