House panel OKs giving ships to Turkey

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. congressional committee agreed to give Turkey several decommissioned U.S. military ships on Tuesday, but the legislator who sponsored the plan denied it was intended to temper Ankara's anger over U.S. legislation on Armenian genocide.

On a voice vote, the House Foreign Affairs committee approved the package worth $485 million for Turkey, which was infuriated by the same panel's vote on October 10 to label as genocide the 1915 massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turks.

Amid the outcry from Turkey, which recalled its ambassador, U.S. support for the Armenian genocide resolution has faltered, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said last week it was uncertain whether it would come to the floor for a vote.

Rep. Tom Lantos, who sponsored the bill to transfer three naval vessels to Turkey and sell a fourth at a large discount, said it was a routine transaction with "zero" relationship to the Armenian genocide controversy.

It was unclear how long the measure had been in the works, and it now goes to the House floor for a vote.

"We have been giving allies access to military equipment no longer needed by our Navy, Air Force or Army," Lantos, a California Democrat and the committee's chairman, told Reuters.

"Many countries have been recipients over many years and this time it happens to be the Turks," he said. The legislation also included the grant of two ships to Lithuania and the sale of two ships to Taiwan. It would have to pass the Senate as well as the House before President Bush could sign it into law.

One co-sponsor of the Armenian genocide resolution asked why naval vessels were being given to Turkey. Rep. Brad Sherman noted they would be of little use against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq and Iran that have launched attacks on Turkish soldiers across land borders.

"In dealing with the defense concerns on its Iraqi and Iranian border, where will Turkey deploy these naval vessels? The last time ocean-going ships were seen in Eastern Anatolia, it was Noah's Ark," Sherman, a California Democrat, said.

Sherman said meanwhile that the Armenian genocide resolution was unlikely to come to the House floor soon.

"January is more likely than this year," he told reporters after a meeting with Pelosi, another California Democrat. "We want to bring it to the floor when we have the votes."

The vessels to be granted to Turkey under Lantos' bill were one coastal minehunter worth $131 million and two guided missile frigates worth $124.7 million and $126.8 million.

A coastal minehunter with the original acquisition cost of $130.2 million was offered to Turkey with the sale price of $27.7 million.