ISRAEL’S ONLY IMPEDIMENT TO THE RECOGNITION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IS POLITICS
PanARMENIAN.Net
06.09.2007 GMT+04:00
Jewish organization ADL (Anti-Defamation League of the United States)
has qualified the slaughter of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire
as Genocide.
ADL, headquartered in the USA has finally qualified the slaughter of
the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as Genocide. The fact itself is
very notable, as for the first time a Jewish Organization has called
things by their proper names. According to ADL National Director
Abraham H. Foxman, the decision was made after the given issue had
been discussed with the historians and Nobel Prize Laureate Eli Vizel.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Earlier Foxman had mentioned, that "the Turks
and Armenians must once again look back to their past. The Jewish
Community, as well as the US Congress mustn’t be the judge in this
story". Besides ADL, together with the American Jewish Committee,
B’nai B’rith and Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
(JINSA) have lately addressed a letter to the US Congress from the
part of the Jewish Community in Turkey, which is against the adoption
of Resolution 106 about the Armenian Genocide by the US Congress.
Jewish Organizations in the USA for many years function within the
course of the Turkish public policy denying the Armenian Genocide. The
truth is though, that a number of Jewish organizations, historians and
even state officials do not give away to Turkish blackmail and qualify
the events of 1915 as Genocide. Abraham Foxman’s announcement became
the reason of the activities carried out by the Armenian Community of
the USA not only among the Congressmen, but also among the American
non-governmental organizations.
Starving to achieve alteration of the recent decision of the
U.S. Jewish organizations to qualify the policy of the Ottoman
Empire in regard to the Armenians during World War I as Genocide,
the Turkish Government displays pressure on Israel," writes the
Israeli magazine Haaretz. According to the sources of the Israeli
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the meeting of Abdullah Gul with the
Israeli Ambassador to Ankara Pinhas Avivi scheduled in mid August
was rather "sensational", for the Minister expressed "Ankara’s anger
and disappointment regarding this issue." Turkey also expressed its
concern over the announcement made by the Israeli Minister of Public
Health Ya’acov Ben-Yizri regarding the slaughter of the Armenians in
the Ottoman Empire in the beginning of the XX Century which he made
from the part of the Minister of Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Tzipi Livni. Ben-Yizri, in particular announced that the Jewish Nation
takes a particular liking and respect to the Armenian Nation, for the
Armenians have also suffered a slaughter. "The Israeli Government
has never denied the horrible events of 1915, it understands and
shares the sorrow of the Armenian Nation, taking into consideration
the number of the victims and the terrible loses the Armenian Nation
suffered," stated the Minister of Public Health of Israel. "The attempt
of qualifying the mentioned events of World War I as "Genocide"
has no historical and legal bases, for even the historians didn’t
reach any consensus regarding the issue," says the Turkish Ministry
of Foreign Affairs. Along with this, the Armenians of Jerusalem are
certain that in spite of possible political consequences in Turkey’s
relations with Israel, Jewish organizations all over the world will
sooner or later qualify the events of 1915 as "Genocide". "Israel
understands this better than anyone else… however the fact that the
issue is rather politicized doesn’t allow taking the right decision,"
the Jerusalem Post quotes the opinion of the Armenian Patriarch in
Jerusalem Samvel Agoyan.
Agoyan also mentioned that Israel’s only impediment to the recognition
of the Armenian Genocide is politics.
"If you are not able to call things by their proper names, at least
recognize it as a fact."
Historian Taner Akcam, the author of the "Shameful Act: The Armenian
genocide and the Question of Turkish responsibility", harshly
criticized the statement made by ADL which spoke of the necessity of
"looking back at past". "As long as the Turkish political character
is being dictated by people like Yusuf Khalachoglu, Gunduz Aktana and
Sukru Elekdaga, I don’t think such commission of historians may give
any results. To them, the commission may become the continuation of
the war, which they carry out against the Armenians, who they consider
their enemies," said Akcam.
According to the correspondent of Hurriyet, Ankara had most of
all counted on the support of the Jewish lobby in the USA, and had
been trying to go against the attempts of the Armenian Diaspora of
passing the bill on the Armenian Genocide. As for Milliyet, it cut
down to blackmail: "When the Jewish lobbying organizations undertake
anti-Turkish positions, it certainly has its most negative impact
on Turkish-Israeli relations. It will do much harm to Turkey, Israel
and the USA."
What was ADL guided by when accepting the given statement is hard
to guess. Perhaps Eli Vizel had his role in it or maybe Israel’s
and Jewish organizations’ stubborn denial of the Armenian Genocide
makes upsets the Jewish people. Another interesting fact is that the
announcement was disseminated on the eve of the presidential elections
in Turkey. Be that as it may, Turkey received its first alert, which
was for the moment from the Jewish organizations.