Armenia Measure Puts White House, Turkey on Edge

A bill to term the World War I-era deaths of 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Turkish government "genocide" is winning support in Congress—making the White House squirm and Turkey fume, the Washington Post reports. President Bush and eight former Secretaries of State have warned Speaker Nancy Pelosi the issue jeopardizes a major US alliance.

Turkey cut off military ties with France when a similar measure was passed there in 2006. For Rep. Adam Schiff, it is a painful and important issue for the large Armenian constituency in his California district, and easily won moral ground for his fellow Democrats: Though Bush ran with a pledge to acknowledge the genocide, he has not done so as president. (More genocide stories.)