Desiree Fairooz of Texas, 50, jumps up in front of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice before Rice testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington October 24, 2007. Fairooz, an anti-war protester waved blood-colored hands in Rice's face at a congressional hearing on Wednesday and shouted "war criminal!", but was pushed away and detained by police.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appealed to lawmakers on Wednesday to drop an Armenian "genocide" resolution at current "delicate time with Turkey."

    "This is a very delicate time with Turkey," Rice told the House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee, which voted two weeks ago to label the Ottoman Empire's World War I massacre of Armenians as "genocide."

    Noting "We have extremely important strategic interests with the Turks," she said "I continue to believe that the passage of the ... Armenian genocide resolution would severely harm our relationships with Turkey."

    In addition to Rice, U.S. President George W. Bush has urged Congress to drop the resolution.

    "Congress has more important work to do than antagonizing a democratic ally in the Muslim world, especially one that's providing vital support for our military every day," in places like Iraq, Bush said last week.

    Armenians claim that more than 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a systematic genocide in the hands of the Ottomans during World War I, before modern Turkey was born in 1923.

    But Turkey insists the Armenians are victims of widespread chaos and governmental breakdown as the 600-year-old empire collapsed in the years before 1923.

    The Bush administration, attaching great importance to Turkey's participation in the war on terror, said that passing the "genocide" bill would be "problematic for everything we're trying to do in the Middle East and would cause great harm to our efforts."