JEWISH LOBBY IN U.S. CALL ON TURKEY TO MOVE

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.01.2007 15:57 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A member of the Jewish lobby in the United States
said "if Turkey doesn’t do something, the Armenian genocide bill will
pass in the U.S. Congress despite our best efforts to block it,"
reports Turkish Daily News. In his words, neither the Jewish lobby
nor President George W. Bush’s last-minute efforts will stop the
bill. The current political environment in the United States has
turned against Turkey to an unprecedented degree. The degree is so
large that the Armenian National Committee of America expressed in
a statement issued last week that their chances for passing the bill
are now the highest they have been in the last decade. For all these
reasons, the U.S. Jewish lobby which has always managed to block the
Armenian genocide bill in the past has warned the Turkish Ministry
of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to "either do something or be ready to face
the consequences."

According to the author of the article, there are three possible
variants. A group of senior diplomats criticize Turkey’s past policies
regarding the allegation and assert that "there’s nothing we can do
after this hour." Some in the Jewish Lobby believe that it is still not
too late. If Turkey established diplomatic relations and opened the
borders with Armenia, the tide could turn around. They have already
suggested this as a way out to the Turkish MFA. A third group says,
since an overwhelming majority of parliaments in the world have already
recognized the genocide, the United States will inevitably have to
join them in the end. Turkey should be producing pro-active policies
rather than reactionary policies on this topic. Another official from
the MFA said, "Although the atmosphere in the United States seems to be
against Turks, we can still get some of the Democrats and Republicans
on our side by staying on top of the issue. It is not too late." The
same official said he didn’t even want to imagine what it would be
like if Turkish-U.S. relations were further crippled by the Armenian
bill after the row over Iraq.

U.S. diplomats express similar concerns. However, the bill has already
turned into a scare for the Jewish lobby in the United States. The only
hope, for now, is Turkey’s opening up its border with Armenia. Although
the MFA seems to be favoring a more pro-active policy, this seems
unlikely since 2007 is the year of general elections in Turkey. Thus,
the year 2007 is pregnant with a crisis that would leave even crises
over the presidential elections and the general elections in the
shadow, with the Jewish lobby already warning the Turkish MFA about
the yet unborn child.