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The then prime minister of Turkey immediately responded that similar resolutions would lead to poorer relations between the EU and Turkey. The greatest breakthrough came with the long fought for recognition of President Jacques Chirac. Chirac, having avoided the question of the Armenian Genocide for years, gave in to political pressure in France and signed a decree on January 29, 2001, according to which the Armenian massacres were regarded as genocide. Under this law, the Armenian Genocide is equivalent with the Jewish Holocaust in that denial of it is punishable in France. 12

The reaction from Turkey was swift. Several French companies lost their contracts with Turkish companies or the state and were erased from future negotiations (however, these embargos ended shortly afterwards, and only a year after the start of the embargo the relations between France and Turkey were back to normal). On February 16, Turkey retorted by voting through a law in its foreign committee which accused France of committing genocide against the Turks in Anatolia during the 1920s, during French occupation of southern Turkey. 13

Unperturbed, the European Union went further and introduced a proposition to include recognition of the Armenian Genocide as a condition for Turkish membership of the EU. The proposition was voted down, however, since the EU did not wish to be dragged in as mediator in similar "historical" conflicts. Nevertheless, during the 21st century, the EU has on several occasions repeated the condemnation of the genocide and called upon Turkey's official acknowledgement. In its annual report and as a basis for EU policy in the Caucasus a draft was put forward, written by the Swedish Green party member and EU commissioner Per Garthon, whereby the Armenian Genocide was included. An attempt to strike the amendment was voted down on February 28, 2002, by 391 votes against 96. 14

As we have mentioned, the greatest obstacle to international recognition was the unwillingness of the USA to take measures which could impair its relations with Turkey. In 2000, however, the hard work of Armenian lobbyists in Washington DC paid off. The House of Representatives took up the question of the genocide and, by an overwhelming majority, voted for a resolution on the genocide to be brought to vote in Congress, despite resistance from the Clinton administration. Resolution "H. Res. 596" 15 aroused great anger in Turkey and the newspaper headlines were unmerciful, decrying "the American treason" and "a dagger in the back". 16 Ankara immediately threatened to withdraw its defence contracts with the Pentagon and close its air bases for American and British air operations over Iraq. In the end, the process dragged on so long that President Clinton was compelled to intervene personally and stop the resolution H. R. 596. In a letter, dated October 19, 2000, to the chairman of the House of Representatives, Dennis Haster, Clinton expressed his concern about the consequences of the resolution being passed for US interests in the region. 17 The House of Representatives was forced to withdraw the resolution and once again American recognition of the Armenian Genocide failed to materialise.