HOUSE TO CONSIDER ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION
By Olesya Vartanyan
Source: Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
AXcess News
Tuesday, 14 August 2007
(AXcess News) Washington – For Armenian-American Margaret Mamadjian,
the history of killings in the Ottoman Empire during World War I is
the essential part of her own family’s story.
A resident of Rockville, Md., she has no doubt that she would live in
Turkey now if not for the Turkish attacks on the Armenian population
who lived in the Ottoman Empire. Mamadjian said it was genocide.
The majority of the 1.5 million Armenians now living in the U.S. came
here after that time. None doubt that the killings were genocide. For
the last decades, their main demand to the U.S. government has been
to share that conclusion.
Their demand may become true in the fall when the House of
Representatives will have a hearing on the Armenian Genocide
Resolution.
Turks oppose this resolution, however. They say there was no
genocide. They argue the Ottoman government was trying to settle
problems with the Armenian Revolutionary Party by suppressing
protests and relocating Armenians to Syria and Mesopotamia. During
these actions, they say from 300,000 to 800,000 Armenians were killed
or died. Nearly the same number of Turks were killed by Armenians,
according to official Turkish sources.
Turkish officials say Armenians try to get international support to
take their territories and get reparations.
Mamadjian, 65, a retired nurse, said the story of her father’s
suffering during the Ottoman Empire is known to the entire family,
including her grandchildren.
Her father, Agob, was 14 when he had to run alone to Lebanon from his
hometown of Bursa in the Western part of present-day Turkey. Turkish
soldiers killed Agob’s father and took away his sister. His mother and
brother were evacuated to Italy, where they suffered in poverty. She
died soon after, and the brother died shortly after reaching Lebanon.
After working in an open market, Agob finally got his own stall. He
died in Lebanon. Shortly after the civil war in Lebanon in the 1980s,
Mamadjian immigrated to the U.S. with her husband.
Mamadjian said her father didn’t like to talk about this part of his
life, as there "were no good things to remember."
The House resolution calls on the president to commemorate the 1.5
million Armenians killed in the Ottoman Empire as genocide and "to
ensure" that U.S. foreign policy toward Turkey reflects that.
"In the case of the Armenian genocide, we have an obligation to
recognize the fact of the genocide and to oppose the revision of
the history that Turkey would like write," said Rep. Adam Schiff,
D-Calif., the original co-sponsor of the resolution. "The denial of
the genocide is the final act of the genocide."
The resolution has 224 supporters in the House. Armenian lobbying
groups believe others will vote for it.
But experts say it has little chance of changing the Turkish position
on the issue and may influence U.S.-Turkey relations.
Gunay Evinch, a president of the Assembly of Turkish American
Associations, a charity that lobbies Turkey’s cause before Congress,
said Turks don’t consider the position of House members to be
"independent."
Evinch said the resolution’s supporters are under the influence of
Armenian lobbying organizations.
Some of the supporters are from states with substantial Armenian
populations, mainly California, New Jersey and New York. Armenians
have two main charitable organizations that promote their interests,
mainly genocide recognition.
Evinch said American Turks live in the same states, but there are
only about one-third as many Turks and they are not so active in
promoting Turkish political issues as Armenians are.
"There is not nearly a day you don’t see Armenians on the Hill. They
come every day to make representatives and their staffs listen to
their version of history," Evinch said.
Similar resolution have been introduced to the House since the
late 1970s.
The last time was in 2000, but it was dropped after President Clinton
wrote the House speaker, saying it "could have far-reaching negative
consequences for the United States."
Some say that hasn’t changed.
Turkey has a common boarder with Iran and Iraq. It is the main ally of
the U.S. in the Middle East. It participated in NATO joint operations
in Afghanistan and supports U.S. policy in the Israel-Palestine
conflict.
Turkey is an important player in the Kurdish Northern region of Iraq.
Kemal Koprulu, president of the advisory board of Turkish independent
ARI Movement (New Societal Understanding), said emotions prevail in
Turkey’s foreign policy, and if the U.S. House adopts the resolution,
its recent history with France could repeat.
Several governments have adopted genocide resolutions. When the French
Parliament did so, there were problems with diplomatic relations and
the Turkish government delayed military deals.
A poll conducted by ARI Movement and the U.S. organization Terror
Free Tomorrow in February showed that about 80 percent of Turkish
citizens would oppose Turkey assisting the U.S. in Iraq and would
boycott American products or demonstrate if the House adopts a
genocide resolution.
Supporters of the resolution are sure it will not influence relations
between the countries.
"Our relationship with Turkey is strong enough to survive the truth,"
Schiff said.
Edwards Alexander, 85, an Armenian-American, worked in the State
Department for about 30 years. He said he always faced the U.S. fear
about spoiled relations with Turkey.
Alexander’s grandfather was killed by Turkish soldiers as Alexander’s
father, then 5, watched. Alexander said his father told the story
throughout his life and asked the U.S. to recognize the genocide at
nearly all official U.S. government hearings.
When Alexander served in U.S. embassies in Europe, he researched and
wrote a book on the history of Talaat-Pasha, one of the leaders of
Young Turkish Party who is believed to have been the main organizer
of the killings.
Alexander said the genocide resolution was always difficult for the
U.S. government.
"Every time Turks would threaten that the relations would worsen
if the White House recognized the genocide, and it would listen to
them. But it is time to say that, although you are our friend, there
was genocide," Alexander said.
International recognition of the genocide is the one of the priorities
for the government of the Republic of Armenia, and it is written in
its 1990 Declaration of Independence.
Armenia has not had diplomatic relations with Turkey for 15 years. The
border between two countries is closed. Turkey says the genocide
dispute is one of the reasons not to open the border.
Some House members believe the resolution will not change the situation
immediately. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., a co-chair of the Armenian
Caucus in the House, said the resolution force Turkey to change its
position with time.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
