ARMENIAN RESOLUTION IN US CONGRESS
By Fatma Disli

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Feb 14 2007

The debates over recognition of the Armenian "genocide" are again
quite heated both in Turkey and abroad, especially following the murder
of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink last month. Now there is a
resolution pending in the US Congress which if adopted will recognize
the 1915 events as genocide. Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul
went to Washington last week seeking to prevent the passage of the
resolution saying, "Turkish-US relations will be shattered if the
resolution passes." This week Turkey’s chief of general staff is also
paying a visit to the US with the same concerns. Turkey’s attempts
to prevent the Armenian resolution’s passage and what will happen if
the US adopts this resolution are a matter of controversy.

Milliyet’s Hasan Cemal thinks if the US has not lost its mind then
it should not adopt the Armenian resolution. He says if the US
wants to lose a friend and ally like Turkey in the Middle East,
if it wants democracy in Turkey to be harmed, if it wants to help
the powers aiming to destabilize Turkey, if it does not care about
Turkey’s partnership in policies relating to Iran and Iraq, if it
does not want the normalization of Turkey-Armenia relations, if it
is against the establishment of independent discussion platforms
about the Armenian issue in Turkey, then it should pass the Armenian
resolution. He recalls Hrant Dink who said: "I am addressing the
Diaspora Armenians. They should never ask Turkey or any other country
in the world to accept the Armenian genocide. The important thing is
Turkey’s democratization. Only a democratic country can dare to face
its history, talk about its problems and empathize." Cemal urges if the
US wants to ignore Dink’s message, it can pass the Armenian resolution.

Radikal’s Gunduz Aktan says the fact that Congress’ decisions are
not binding does not reduce the symbolic importance of this decision
for Turkey. He also says that the problems between Turkey and the
US regarding the Armenian genocide allegations are not the fault of
the Congress but the US administration. Aktan comments on how US
presidents refer to the 1915 events as genocide without using the
word genocide. "It is understandable that the US Congress wants to
use the word genocide with the influence of ethnic Armenian voters
in a country like the US where politics are more local than any
other country in the world," he stresses. Aktan blames the Bush
administration for using the wrong method to prevent the passage
of the Armenian resolution in the US House of Representatives by
saying that Turkey is a strategic ally for the US and relations will
be harmed if the resolution passes. "This is not defending Turkey,"
he asserts. Aktan thinks that the US administration should show the
flaws in the draft resolution to Congress. This resolution claims, in
reference to US archives, that 1.5 million out of 2 million Armenians
in the Ottoman Empire faced genocide. "I do not think that there is
any document in the US archives showing the population of Armenians
as 2 million in the Ottoman Empire. Why doesn’t the US administration
inform the Congress correctly about this," Aktan says. He asserts
Turkey should announce now that, "We will call on the US to use the
law if the US adopts this resolution. This scandal should end."

Posta’s Mehmet Ali Birand thinks that Turkey can prevent the
passage of the resolution if it can take courageous steps other than
warning the US about the deterioration of Turkey-US relations. He
suggests that Turkey could have unconditional talks with Armenia,
establish a commission including historians from both sides,
open the Turkey-Armenia border for people’s crossing at first,
or controversial Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) could
be abolished or amended considerably. "We have ignored the genocide
allegations for years. We thought they would disappear if we did not
deal with them. Armenians have had their claim adopted. Only if we
take courageous steps that surprise the world can we be saved from
this trap," he asserts.