A FAMILIAR STRATEGEM
By Sami Kohen

Turkish Press
Sept 16 2005

MILLIYET- The Armenian lobby has been doing this for years. The
lobby and its supporters always wait for an opportunity to enact
a law justifying the claims on the so-called Armenian genocide in
the US Congress. First of all, it receives support and interest
with a bill it presents to the relevant committees of the House of
Representatives. However, when the bill is brought to the House floor,
the White House and various branches of the administration become
involved in the issue. Finally, the bill is never brought to the floor
or fails to get approval. Then a period of silence follows until the
lobby and its supporters find a new opportunity and go through the
same process.

The US House of Representatives International Relations Committee
this week considered a bill holding the Ottoman Empire responsible
for the Armenian genocide and requesting that the Turkish Republic
accept this crime. Actually, it seems unlikely that this bill will
be presented to the full House or even approved. However, even if the
bill is discussed by the committee and gets great support and interest,
this would be a success for the Armenian lobby. If Congress doesn’t
make such a final decision, it will be necessary to evaluate the
reasons for the Armenian lobby’s success on the US political platform.

Generally, people’s reasons for supporting the claims on the
so-called Armenian genocide in the US, as in other countries,
depends on Turkey’s incompetence in promotion — in conveying
its ideas and influencing public opinion — against the Armenian
diaspora’s advantage of propaganda and influence. It’s a shame that
for years we haven’t overcome this. Unfortunately, Turkey is still
ineffectual against the propaganda of counter-lobbies in the US. We
can’t say that the professional lobbyists working for Turkey are very
successful. Likewise, promotion isn’t the only way of getting results
in the US and the world generally. The political dimensions of this
question are very important. The Armenian lobby’s success in the
Congress is related with the atmosphere of the US public’s feelings
concerning Turkey, in Turkish-US relations, and among politicians
in Washington, and this atmosphere isn’t so bright. Actually, the
US Congress has never really gotten over Turkey’s rejection of the
deployment of US soldiers before the Iraq invasion in March 2003. As
for the political dimensions of the problem, Turkey has to establish
new strategies to counter claims on the so-called Armenian genocide.