How Turkey, Nancy Pelosi, and a 91 Year Old Genocide Could Mean Turmoil for Our Troops.

Map taken from Maps101.com.

Earlier this week, Nancy Pelosi stated that she will continue pushing for a vote on a bill that would officially mark the the killings of a million or more Armenians during WWI as genocide. What's more, it was the Turks (Ottomans at the time) who carried out the massacre.

Obviously, the Turks are not happy about the possible resolution, that would label them as killers and the Turkish government, including their General staff chief Yasar Buyukanit, has warned that the resolution could seriously affect the relationship between the U.S. and Turkey.

General Buyukanit said the following tin an interview:

"the United States is an important ally of Turkey, but allied countries do not treat each other like this".

Clearly, the resolution would harshly effect the ties between both of the NATO countries and although the resolution hasn't even passed yet, the effects are already being felt. Incirlik Air Base, located in southern Turkey near Syria, is cautioning that if the bill were to pass that they may completely halt all US traffic in and out of the base.

Robert Gates, Defense Secretary for the US, stated this on the issue:

"About 70 percent of all air cargo going into Iraq goes through Turkey, and about a third of the fuel that they consume goes through Turkey or comes from Turkey."

In the case this were to happen, the military is already seeking out other sites for air bases to use which would most likely include Jordan and Kuwait.

This could harshly effect our troops because almost all MRAPs (Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protective vehicles), which are vehicles that protect our troops from roadside bombs, could for a while no longer be available to the military and would leave the troops open to attack.

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	Turkish General Issues Warning on Bill	Breitbart	Mon Oct 15	12
	Nancy Pelosi Says She'll Press on With Turkish Resolution	CNN	Sun Oct 14	0
	Pelosi and Congress Botch U.S. - Turkey Relations	msnbc.com	Sun Oct 14	32
	Turkish General Issues Warning on Bill	Associated Press	Sun Oct 14	2
	Genocide vote will damage US-Turkey relations, says general	Guardian Unlimited	Mon Oct 15	1