ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

The Irish Times
October 10, 2007 Wednesday

Today the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee will
pass a resolution calling on President Bush "to accurately characterise
the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1.5 million Armenians
as genocide".

The killings, whose scale and character are fiercely contested by
Turkey, were carried out by Ottoman troops beginning in 1915. While
Ankara is prepared to acknowledge a "tragedy" it insists that those
who died on both sides of the bloody conflict were victims of war
and it deeply resents an implied analogy with Nazi war crimes.

The Turkish government has been lobbying heavily to block the
resolution which is sponsored by some 226 of 435 members of the
house. In the past it has succeeded in getting such motions shelved
by leaning heavily on administration concerns not to offend a most
loyal strategic partner and member of Nato.

Similar resolutions were approved by the house in 1975 and 1984 but
did not make it through the Senate. A 1990 resolution was blocked
by a Senate filibuster. This time there have been calls from Prime
Minister Tayip Erdogan to Bush, who has spoken out against the motion,
and to Bill Clinton, urging him to use his influence among Democrats.

Erdogan has warned that the political fall-out could be long and
lasting, fuelling nationalist anger and potentially jeopardising
important links.

Dan Fried, the state department’s top Europe official, warned last
week it could "hurt our forces deployed in Iraq, which rely on passage
through Turkey . . . We have to be mindful of how much we depend
and how much our troops and the Iraqi economy depend on shipments
from and through Turkey". Turkish diplomats argue the motion could
stymie tentative moves towards a rapprochement between Turkey and
Armenia. The latter is sceptical.

In terms of historical fact there is some case for the recognition
of a monstrous injustice, although what purpose exactly is served by
the diplomatic equivalent of a sharp poke in the eye is arguable.

What is more important to Turkey’s friends in Europe, however, is
the perception that the country remains unable still to debate this
neuralgic issue domestically in a manner that respects democratic
norms. Those writers and intellectuals who try to raise it face
possible prosecution under the notorious Article 301 of its penal
code that makes it a crime to insult Turkish national identity.

Despite a willingness last week at the Council of Europe from
President Abdullah Gul to countenance Article 301’s repeal, his
AKP party has made it clear its priority is the debate on a new
constitution. Unfortunately today’s motion is likely to reinforce
rather than change that prioritisation.