Azerbaijan: US 'genocide' vote hurts stability
Turkish ally says House panel resolution labeling WWI mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as 'genocide' could 'reduce to zero all previous efforts' to resolve conflict over Armenian-backed rebel region of Nagorno-Karabakh
Oil-producing Azerbaijan, a close Muslim and Turkic-speaking ally of Turkey, said the resolution adopted on Thursday "could reduce to zero all previous efforts" to resolve the conflict over the Armenian-backed rebel region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The strongly-worded statement by parliament underscored the deep links in the region between unresolved historical grievances and modern-day territorial disputes.
Azerbaijan traditionally sees any affirmation of Christian Armenian grievances against Turkey as, by extension, an expression of support for Armenia in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijan believes Western support for Armenia will only harden Yerevan's resolve against compromising over the Armenian-populated region, which broke away in fighting that erupted as the Soviet Union headed towards its 1991 collapse.
Angry speeches
After angry speeches in parliament, lawmakers voted unanimously to adopt the statement warning the resolution "damages efforts to restore peace and stability in the region" -- where pipelines carry Azeri oil and gas to the West.
The nonbinding resolution, adopted by 23 votes to 22 by the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, calls on President Barack Obama to ensure US policy formally refers to the 1915 killings as genocide.
The vote opened the way for the measure possibly to be considered by the full House, although it was unclear whether it would come to a vote there, and if so whether it could pass.
Azerbaijan called for the resolution to be rejected, saying it "contradicts US interests in the region and the US strategic partnership with Azerbaijan and Turkey."
Turkey accepts that many Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks but denies that up to 1.5 million died and that it amounted to genocide – a term employed by many Western historians and some foreign parliaments.
A ceasefire was agreed in Nagorno-Karabakh in 1994 after 30,000 people perished.
But more than 15 years of international mediation have failed to forge a peace deal, and the specter of conflict still hangs over the South Caucasus, a key energy transit region.
Tensions have been rising since Turkey and Armenia last year moved to overcome their legacy of mistrust, signing accords to establish diplomatic ties and open their border – closed by Turkey in 1993 in solidarity with Azerbaijan during the war.
Faced with an Azeri backlash, Turkey says it will not ratify the deal without Armenian concessions on Nagorno-Karabakh.
