Tsitsernakaberd, monument to the mass deaths of Armenians in 1915 at the hands of the Turkish government. Photo credit: Adam Lederer

Turkey warned that the decision of the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs on Thursday to term the killings of Armenians during World War I by the Ottoman Empire as genocide has potentially endangered US relations with its only Muslim NATO ally.

The marginal 23-22 vote in the committee calls on President Barack Obama to “characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1.5 million Armenians as genocide” and went ahead despite last-minute pleas from the White House and State Department, reported The Times.

Chairman of the committee, Howard Berman, advised his colleagues to support the resolution, ignoring appeals from US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, that the resolution would jeopardize a Turkish and Armenian agreement for reconciliation she helped to negotiate last October, The Financial Times reported.

The resolution was met with severe criticism from the Turkish government, although the US, like Britain, has not yet officially classified the killings as genocide. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a statement, saying, “We condemn this resolution, which accuses the Turkish nation of a crime it did not commit.” While Turkey recognizes the Armenian killings, it refuses to label it as genocide, and instead calls it a civil conflict in which an equal number of Turks were also killed. The Armenian government, however, welcomed the vote and praised the US government for recognizing crimes against humanity.

The non-binding vote, which is due to proceed to the US House of Representatives, has triggered a debate over whether severing ties with a long-time ally has been worth it. Writing in The Guardian today, Stephen Kinzer expressed his clear distaste over the resolution, arguing that the decision was “no cry of righteous indignation” and that the Congress may have been influenced by the “electoral power of Armenian-Americans”. He added that the Congress lacked the authority to “make sweeping historical judgments” and it should recognize that “it does not exist to penetrate the vicissitudes of history or dictate fatwas to the world.”

Sharing Kinzer’s sentiments, Tony Halpin wrote in an analysis for The Times today that while US presidents have routinely acknowledged the massacres in the past, they have always steered clear of labeling them “genocide” in a bid to please their Turkish allies. Halpin quoted President Obama’s April 24 commemoration day address where he referred to the Armenian Genocide as a “widely documented fact” and vowed to recognize it as such when elected. Obama, however, backed out last year, arguing he had employed diplomacy that led Armenia and Turkey to sign a reconciliation agreement. Referring to the toll the resolution might take on future Turkey-Armenia relations, Halpin wrote, “For the dwindling number of survivors and millions of descendants in Armenia’s global diaspora, Turkish recognition of their suffering and an apology would be the most valuable reparation of all.”

Despite its obvious discontent over the vote, Turkey said on Friday it was determined to resume efforts to normalize ties with Armenia, reported Reuters.