Armenia "surprised" at storm over genocide vote

By Hasmik Mkrtchyan

YEREVAN (Reuters) - Armenia said on Friday it was "surprised" that concerns about damaging U.S.-Turkish ties had been allowed to stall a resolution recognizing as genocide the 1915 killings of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey.

Backers of the resolution in the U.S. Congress said this week they would postpone plans to put it to a full vote after a storm of criticism from U.S. ally Turkey -- which denies the killings were genocide -- and from the White House.

Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian told Reuters in an interview he believed that Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat speaker of Congress, would still put the resolution to a full vote.

"We are far from disappointed," said Oskanian. "They tell me the resolution will be put to a full vote at the right time. Speaker Pelosi has not pulled it. With all such matters, timing is a political decision."

But he added: "We remain surprised that the U.S.-Turkey relationship is thought to be so fragile that this non-binding resolution or other verbal acknowledgements appear to pose a problem."

U.S. President George W. Bush has said the resolution, by angering Ankara, could hurt Washington's strategic interests because Turkey is a key military ally in the Middle East region.

The resolution was being debated just as Washington is trying to persuade Turkey not to launch possible military attacks into northern Iraq against Kurdish separatist rebels.

"WHAT RECONCILIATION?"