Turkey warns US against Armenian genocide resolution

News

Turkey warns US against Armenian genocide resolution

February 7, 2007 12:56:00 pm

[JURIST] Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gul [official profile] said Wednesday that a proposed resolution [text, PDF] by the US Congress condemning the mass killings [BBC backgrounder] of 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1917 as "genocide" would damage US-Turkish relations. Turkey has maintained that the deaths do not amount to genocide [JURIST comment] and has recently objected to similiar legislation or proposed legislation in Argentina and France [JURIST reports].

Gul met with State Department [official website] officials on Tuesday, saying that the House resolution may threaten Turkey's cooperation with the US on issues such as Iraq. The Bush Administration has promised to work with Congress to avoid the resolution. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Georgia became first US state to ban lynching

On December 20, 1893, Georgia became the first state in the Union to pass a law against lynching, making the act punishable by four years in prison. The statute was not particularly effective—read the text of the 1899 pamphlet Lynch Law in Georgia by anti-lynching activist Ida Wells-Barnett.

UN Drug Trafficking Convention signed

On December 20, 1988, the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances was signed in Vienna, Austria. The treaty provides mechanisms for international coordination in preventing the manufacture and distribution of drugs worldwide. Over 170 countries have signed the treaty to date.