POLS SIDESTEP DEBATE OVER ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
By: Ryan Grim
Politico, DC
April 25 2007
By regional standards, the Armenian genocide happened yesterday. Or,
if you’re the government of Turkey or the United States, there was
no genocide.
Now Congress is weighing in, and the diplomatic foray has gotten messy.
The Bush administration, like others before it, refuses to use the
word "genocide." Beginning in 1915, more than 1.5 million Armenians
died when the Ottoman government forced the relocation of the
population. President Bush has a reason not to call it genocide: That
would anger the Turkish government, an ally and a Muslim democracy
which has threatened to revoke permission for the U.S. to use an
important air base over the issue, among other repercussions.
Resolutions recognizing and condemning the genocide have been
introduced in both the House and the Senate, and the administration
is vigorously opposing them. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
and Defense Secretary Robert Gates told House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
(D-Calif.) in a joint letter that the resolution could "harm American
troops in the field."
And Turkey’s lobbying prowess has already forced four co-sponsors to
back off the bill.
Nonetheless, backers of the nonbinding resolutions in Congress feel
this could be the year it happens and have gained momentum from a
Los Angeles Times editorial last weekend in support of the measure,
which now has 190 co-sponsors in the House and 29 in the Senate
version sponsored by Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.).
The International Association of Genocide Scholars, among numerous
other reputable historical groups, has described the event as
genocide, explaining in a 2005 letter to the Turkish government that,
beginning in April 1915, "…under cover of World War I, the Young Turk
government of the Ottoman Empire began a systematic genocide of its
Armenian citizens — an unarmed Christian minority population. More
than a million Armenians were exterminated through direct killing,
starvation, torture and forced death marches…"
The Turkish government, which replaced the Ottomans, disputes the
account and is fighting to prevent debate on the resolution. A Turkish
Embassy spokesman said that the Armenian deaths — they place the toll
at 200,000 — occurred during an armed revolt by Armenian rebels who
opposed being relocated by the Ottoman government.
"We don’t believe the term ‘genocide’ has anything to do with what
happened in 1915 in the Ottoman Empire. It’s a very incriminating
and serious claim," the spokesman said.
Turkey has long threatened repercussions in trade and diplomatic
relations if the U.S. recognizes the genocide. "It’s going to affect
our cooperation," the embassy spokesman said. "We don’t see what
the advantages are for the United States in passing this. Only the
enemies of the United States and Turkey would be happy."
The Turkish government is backing up its talk with serious lobbying
power. The Livingston Group — the powerful firm of former Louisiana
Republican congressman Bob Livingston — represents Turkey and
is fighting the resolution. According to the watchdog group Public
Citizen, Turkey paid the Livingston Group $9 million between 2000 and
2004, and Turkey recently hired DLA Piper, the firm of former House
minority leader Dick Gephardt, to provide access to Democrats.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill feel the pressure. So far, four House
members who initially co-sponsored the resolution, including Rep.
David Scott (D-Ga.), have withdrawn their support.
"I initially did it as a favor to Schiff," Scott said, referring to
one of the bill’s lead sponsors, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). "If
I had known it would be this kind of a mess, I’d never have gotten
into it. I wasn’t there. I don’t know what happened. Out of fairness,
let them settle it."
Scott said he withdrew as a co-sponsor after meeting with a number of
his Turkish-American constituents. (His district includes a sizable
Turkish-American population.)
Rep. Dennis Moore (D-Kan.) also supported the resolution before he
withdrew as a co-sponsor. His office said he had "no official comment"
on the flip-flop.
Rep. Phil English (R-Pa.) also pulled his name, saying in a statement
to The Politico, "…although I sympathize with the Armenian claims for
justice, the timing of this resolution is unfortunate, given everything
in the Middle East and our need to maintain a close engagement with our
friends in Turkey. As we continue to work together to promote peace in
the Middle East and Iraq, nothing should come between U.S. engagement
with Turkey."
Republicans also see the resolution as an opportunity to paint
Democrats as novices in international diplomacy. "It’s another
irresponsible foreign policy flap on the part of the majority on
the heels of their trip to Syria," said Florida Rep. Adam Putnam,
the third-ranking member in the Republican caucus.
The Bush administration "does not use the word ‘genocide’ to describe
these events," the U.S. Embassy said in a March 13, 2007, statement.
The administration, it clarified, "has never denied the mass murders
and forced exile of up to 1.5 million Armenians" — it just doesn’t
call it genocide.
"Unfortunately, the administration, rather than viewing it as a moral
issue, puts it into U.S.-Turkish relations," said Aram Hambarian,
executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America.
Schiff agrees, contending that the administration’s opposition is "not
a principled position to take." Refusing to acknowledge a 90-year-old
genocide undercuts U.S. moral authority to end the genocide currently
going on in Darfur, he added.
Hambarian said that Turkey’s threats are bluffs, noting that it trades
briskly with European nations that have condemned the genocide. He
added that when the U.S. has previously bucked Turkey by mentioning the
genocide, in several earlier House resolutions and a 1981 presidential
proclamation by Ronald Reagan, the threats did not materialize.
"Every year the argument is made that this is not a good time," Schiff
said. "It’s been 90 years. If now is not the right time, when is?"
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