By Elizabeth Williamson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Chances for a U.S. resolution calling the mass killings of Armenians that began in 1915 genocide eroded dramatically last night, as sponsors dropped off in droves and senior Democrats urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to abandon her support.

The number of lawmakers supporting the bill slipped below a majority as four more withdrew from the legislation, making nearly a dozen to do so since Monday. The White House strongly opposes the resolution, saying it will damage U.S. relations with Turkey. Legislators cited those objections, along with warnings from the Turkish government and from Gen. David H. Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Baghdad, that the resolution would cause Turkey to scale back its assistance in the Iraq war, as reasons for rejecting it.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee passed the nonbinding resolution on a 27 to 21 bipartisan vote last week, but several of those who voted yes have since switched. Pelosi, who has a large population of ethnic Armenians in her district, reiterated her promise to bring the resolution to the full House for a vote in a conversation with President Bush yesterday.

"The president called the speaker today and requested that the resolution not be brought to the House floor. The president and the speaker exchanged candid views on the subject, and the speaker explained the strong bipartisan support in the House for the resolution," said Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly.

But with the resolution's chances of passage apparently doomed, senior Democrats were urging Pelosi to declare victory with the successful committee vote and move away from the divisive issue.

Rep. Alcee L. Hastings (D-Fla.), who chairs the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe and Rep. John Tanner (D-Tenn.), chairman of the House delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, wrote to Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) yesterday urging them to drop the legislation.

"We urge you to not bring the resolution before the House for a vote at this critical time for our men and women in uniform in the region, and for the stability of the Middle East," they wrote.

The pair, along with Reps. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) and Stephen I. Cohen (D-Tenn.), plan a news conference today urging Pelosi and Hoyer to reconsider.

Rep. Allen Boyd (D-Fla.) said the defections were fueled by a briefing for several House members by Petraeus, who grimly warned that the resolution would risk Turkey's assistance in Iraq. Turkey has threatened to cut off U.S. access to a critical air base.

In the run-up to the committee vote last week, all eight living former secretaries of state and three former defense secretaries warned Pelosi that the resolution would endanger national security in the Middle East.

The Turkish government has spent millions of dollars on lobbying against the resolution since it was introduced in late January by Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D), whose Southern California district contains one of the nation's largest ethnic Armenian populations. Schiff won his seat in 2000 after then-House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) pulled an Armenia genocide bill from the House floor, dooming the reelection chances of Schiff's Republican predecessor.

After the House panel passed the resolution last week, Turkey called its ambassador to the United States, Nabi Sensoy, back to Ankara for consultations, and military leaders in the country warned of grave consequences for U.S.-Turkey military cooperation.

Staff writer Jonathan Weisman contributed to this report.