ARMENIA, TURKEY WAIT WHILE US CONSIDERS RECOGNIZING GENOCIDE
By Jason Motlagh

United Press International
March 19 2007

YEREVAN, Armenia (UPI) — Inside the tomb-like confines of the Armenian
genocide museum, a haunting narrative of images and words unfolds. A
list is posted at tour’s end of Western nations that have officially
recognized the tragedy, minus one major endorsement: the United States.

U.S. lawmakers have recently introduced non-binding resolutions that
would declare up to 1.5 million Armenians victims of genocide at the
hands of Turkish forces almost a century ago. Support is reported
to be strong enough in the House to pass the measure if it goes to
a vote; the Senate introduced a similar resolution last Wednesday
with 21co-sponsors.

Historians and analysts here say recognition from Washington is long
overdue since evidence validating the case for genocide is "clear-cut,
more than factual, and very obvious." But Turkey’s priority status
as a vital strategic ally in a troublesome region stands in the way.

"Although Turkey needs the U.S. more, the U.S also needs Turkey right
now . . . so it’s not realistic to think the government will formally
acknowledge [the genocide]," Hagop Avedikian, editor of Azg newspaper,
said. He noted that every April 24, a day of observance, President Bush
"highlights the genocide and explains it without using the word."

In the past month, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, Chief of
the General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit and a parliamentary delegation
have met with congressmen and administration officials to derail the
resolution. Gul was quoted as saying the delivery of a U.S. genocide
resolution would inflict "lasting damage" on bilateral relations.

Such statements were not lost on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who last week wrote a joint letter
to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other senior members
warning against a measure they said would harm national security
interests. Articles on this Issue

Passage of the House resolution "could harm American troops in
the field, constrain our ability to supply our troops in Iraq
and Afghanistan and significantly damage our efforts to promote
reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey," the letter said according
to the Associated Press.

Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried has said Turkey might respond
by closing Incirlik Air Base, used for operations in nearby Iraq and
Afghanistan. Rice and Gates pointed out how the Turkish military
severed all ties with the French military and terminated defense
contracts after the French National Assembly voted last October to
criminalize denial of the genocide.

The Israeli Knesset killed a motion to discuss possible recognition
earlier this month, fearing a political crisis with Ankara.

Failure to pass the resolution would be "too bad because it could
be a very catalytic moment for rapid recognition by other states,"
Hayk Demoyan, director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, said.

U.S. backing could give Armenians leverage to press for compensation
and possible territorial claims, he added.

However, a raft of Western countries have already recognized the
genocide and made denial a punishable offense. An ethnic Turkish
politician, Dogu Perincek, received a $2,500 fine and a suspended
prison sentence from a Swiss court last Friday for calling the genocide
an "international lie" at a political rally two years ago.

The dispute is over whether hundreds of thousands of Armenians who
died between 1915-23 were part of systematic eradication campaign by
Ottoman Turkey. Armenians contend mass killings and forced deportations
amount to genocide, while the Turkish government insists the deaths
were the result of chaos amid the breakdown of the former empire.

Critics say the Turkish state’s reluctance to confront the Armenian
issue is but one facet of a broader identity crisis that is starting
to show ugly symptoms.

"Textbooks [in Turkey] have for decades placed taboos on certain
issues. To confront them would be catastrophic for the national
identity," Demoyan said.

The latest schism followed the Jan. 19 killing of Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink in broad daylight on a heavily trafficked
Istanbul street. An unprecedented number of people, estimated at more
than 100,000, turned out in protest, chanting: "We are all Armenians."

The 17-year-old killer claimed to have shot him because "he had
insulted the Turks" and said he felt no remorse. Photographs surfaced
soon after his arrest showing the teenager posing with smiling police
officers beneath a Turkish flag.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly said the protesters
went "too far."

There are renewed fears in Armenia that the backlash from the
military-dominated state will be felt by Armenians and other ethnic
minorities in the near future. After he saw the demonstrations on TV
after Dink’s murder, Avedikian said he was afraid, along with many
of his Armenian friends in Istanbul and elsewhere, who are "convinced
Turkey will become even more radical."

Avedikian asserted that the softer line that has prevailed in recent
years may change in light of now-suspended EU accession talks.

Appeals to nationalist sentiment may also be a tactic to secure votes
in the run-up to November parliamentary elections.

"I have a lot of faith in Turkish intellectuals, but not in the army
and those connected with it," he said.

Leftist intellectuals have been hounded by Turkish prosecutors over the
past two years for alleged violations of Article 301 of the Turkish
penal code, which holds that "insulting Turkishness" is a criminal
offense. They include Dink and Nobel prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk,
who was put on trial for recognizing the genocide, though his case
was later dropped.

Pamuk emigrated to the United States after continued harassment and
death threats.