In other news from Washington, the House Foreign Affairs Committee has approved a non-binding resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide. Turkey has long opposed passage of such a measure, which refers to the World War I-era massacre of Armenians by Turkish troops. Republican lawmaker Dan Burton of Indiana opposed the measure, saying it would alienate an important Mideast ally.

Rep. Dan Burton: “We have sympathy for the people that suffered during that time. We understand tragedies occurred. We understand horrible atrocities occurred. There’s no question about that. But we’re in the twenty-first century. We have troops in the field, and we run the risk of losing a base of operation…in Turkey.”

After the vote, Turkey announced it would recall its US ambassador in protest. Meanwhile, Armenian National Committee chair Kenneth Hachikian praised the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Kenneth Hachikian: “We’re very gratified that the House Foreign Affairs Committee chose to prevent Turkey from imposing a gag rule on US foreign policy and decided to stand up for truth and justice and to bring forward the truth of the Armenian genocide. Clearly the members of the committee were under incredible pressure from the Turkish government, and even as late as last night apparently from the administration, to not do this, and so we applaud the bipartisan endorsement of what occurred, and we look forward to moving this forward on the House floor.”

Although many progressives have long called for recognizing the Armenian genocide, there’s been speculation around the motives for the vote. Critics say lawmakers strongly backing the Israeli government are punishing Turkey for its opposition to the Israeli assault on and blockade of the Gaza Strip.