ARMENIAN DIPLOMACY’S TASK IS TO COMPETENTLY BIND CONDEMNATION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE WITH KARABAKH CONFLICT RESOLUTION
Karabakh Open
Oct 6 2007
Gordon Johndroe, a White House spokesman, said President Bush
"reiterated his opposition to the Armenian Genocide resolution,
the passage of which would be harmful to U.S. relations with Turkey."
Johndroe said Bush believes the Armenian episode ranks among the
greatest tragedies of the 20th century, but the determination whether
"the events constitute a genocide should be a matter for historical
inquiry, not legislation."
Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by
Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed
by genocide scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century.
Turkey denies that the deaths constituted genocide.
At the U.S. State Department, the senior official who deals with
Turkish relations said the United States position is not to deny or
accept that genocide occurred. Nevertheless, Assistant Secretary of
State Daniel Fried said, "We do not believe this bill would advance
either the cause of historical truth or Turkish-Armenian reconciliation
or the interests of the United States."
The Turkish reaction to passage of the bill would be extremely strong,
Fried said. It would do "grave harm" to relations with Turkey, a NATO
ally, and damage the U.S. war effort in Iraq, Turkey’s neighbor.
The resolution is largely symbolic and would not be binding on
foreign policy. Similar measures have been offered before and
never passed, but it appears to have a good chance of passage in the
Democratic-controlled House if it is brought to a vote, The Associated
Press reports.
The passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution in the U.S. Congress
will irreparably damage the image of the United States and make the
Jewish population a target of criticism in Turkey, Foreign Minister
and Chief EU Negotiator Ali Babacan has said.
"If it is passed, relations with the United States will undoubtedly
be affected very negatively," Babacan said while en route to Turkey
from a visit to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) on
Thursday evening. "It will further damage the U.S. image in Turkey.
We, as the government, can’t prevent it no matter what we do."
"Armenian and Jewish lobbies unite forces against Turks," he said.
"We have told them that we cannot explain it to the public in Turkey
if a road accident happens. We have told them that we cannot keep
the Jewish people out of this."
Babacan said there was a "problem of empathy" that prevents Western
countries from understanding why the issue is a sensitive matter for
Turkey. "They do not understand that this is execution without trial.
They do not understand that 1915 is not a very old date and that
they accuse the grandfathers of dozens of people in Turkey," he said,
Zaman reports.
"This has nothing to do with the current government or the Turkish
public. This is for the tragic effort of Armenians, who we believe
have experienced genocide. If we do not want to experience or witness
such events again, we need to remember the dates of these events and
we need to have them condemned worldwide," he said, Sabah reports.
Turkey has numerously warned the U.S. that passage of the H.Res.106
will cause a split in the Turkish-American relations.
The U.S. House Foreign Relations Committee will hold a vote on the
Armenian Genocide Resolution October 10. The House version of the
Resolution, H.Res.106, was introduced January 30 by lead author Rep.
Adam Schiff. It has 227 co-sponsors, PanARMENIAN.Net reported.
The Armenian Genocide Resolution, H.Res.106, differs from the ones
passed by the U.S. Congress in 1975 and 1984, director of the ARARAT
Center for Strategic Research, Armen Ayvazyan told a news conference
in Yerevan.
"The resolution defines the timeline from 1915 to 1923 (not 1915 as
it was before). It mentions the precise number of victims – 2 million
deported people, 1.5 million of whom were slaughtered. Moreover,
the resolution does mention that Armenians were killed in their
historical homeland where they had lived for 2.500 years," he said.
"Unfortunately, the process of recognition of the Armenian Genocide
is viewed by the Armenian political class as a well-known game with
a chamomile "loves me loves me not," he noted.
Meanwhile, Armenia should measure the resolutions by its own criteria
fitting both historical truth and national interests, according to him.
Dr Ayvazyan pointed out to five criteria for assessment of resolutions
of the kind: correct mention of timeline (1894-1923); obligatory
mention of the fact that Armenians were annihilated in their homeland,
Western Armenia; condemnation of the Ottoman Empire, as the perpetrator
of this crime against humanity, and the Turkish Republic as denier of
the Armenian Genocide; recognition of responsibility of the Turkish
state to Armenia, as mouthpiece of interests of the Armenian nation;
connection between the Armenian Genocide consequences with the current
geopolitical situation in the region, specifically Armenia’s security
issue.
"The point is that the Armenian Genocide had resulted in a grave
territorial problem for Armenians, since the territory for their
settlement had reduced to an extremely dangerous size. The problem
of Artsakh liberation and security of Armenians of Javakhk should
be considered from this angle. The task of Armenian diplomacy is
to competently bind condemnation of Armenian Genocide with Karabakh
conflict resolution," he said.
The U.S. House Foreign Relations Committee will hold a vote on the
Armenian Genocide Resolution October 10. The House version of the
Resolution, H.Res.106, was introduced January 30 by lead author Rep.