TURKEY HITS BACK AT US OVER GENOCIDE LABEL
By Vincent Boland in Ankara, Demetri Sevastopulo in London and Daniel Dombey in Washington
Financial Times, UK
Oct 11 2007
Turkey reacted angrily on Thursday to a US congressional vote that
labelled the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as
genocide, amid warnings that the issue could mark a turning point
in relations between Washington and Ankara and place in jeopardy US
troops in Iraq.
The non-binding resolution was adopted by the House of Representatives
foreign affairs committee in a 27-21 vote on Wednesday. It is set
to go to the full House in coming weeks despite intense opposition
from Turkey and the White House, which fears the measure will further
damage an already strained relationship with Ankara and put US troops
in Iraq in greater danger.
"It is not possible to accept such an accusation of a crime which was
never committed by the Turkish nation," the Turkish government said.
"It is blatantly obvious that the House committee on foreign affairs
does not have a task or function to rewrite history by distorting
a matter which specifically concerns the common history of Turks
and Armenians."
Turkey accepts that hundreds of thousands of Ottoman Armenians were
killed from 1915 to 1917, as the empire collapsed and before the
republic of Turkey was created. But it rejects the idea of genocide and
insists that the victims died because of war, hunger and displacement.
Several countries have endorsed the genocide verdict but for the US
to be on the brink of doing so – as seems likely if the House votes
on it – is especially dismaying to many Turks.
Some see it as a symbol of a growing disengagement between two military
allies who enjoyed a long and largely pragmatic relationship until the
US invasion of Iraq. "When we look back in 20 years we might see this
as a milestone in the way Turkey and the US have drifted apart," said
Suat Kiniklioglu, an MP for the ruling Justice and Development party.
Others say Turkey has backed itself irrevocably into a corner on the
Armenian issue by refusing to engage with its critics and by silencing
domestic debate. Cengiz Aktar, an academic and commentator in Istanbul,
said: "Turkey has made this a question of honour but it has no other
policy. We were more flexible on this issue 20 years ago than we
are today."
The House resolution comes at a delicate time in US-Turkish
relations. The Turkish parliament is expected next week to approve
a military operation into northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish PKK
separatist rebels based there who have staged bloody attacks inside
Turkey in recent weeks. Such a move is fiercely opposed by the US,
which fears that Iraq’s most stable region could be engulfed in a
new conflict.
Such an authorisation may not be acted on immediately but the Turkish
authorities appear determined to rout the PKK in the face of a wave
of public outrage over recent killings of civilians and soldiers.
"The prime minister feels that our policy of restraint [on the PKK]
has to end," Mr Kiniklioglu said.
But threats of retaliation against the US if the House adopted the
resolution, made by some Turkish politicians, may be premature.
Several diplomats pointed out that the US administration and much of
the its foreign policy establishment took Ankara’s side in opposing the
resolution, a fact that could influence any official Turkish response.
Robert Gates, US defence secretary, said there could be "enormous
present-day implications" for US operations in Iraq if Turkey took
retaliatory action. Nicholas Burns, undersecretary of state, said
the administration would contact the Turkish government to convey its
"deep disappointment" at adoption of the resolution and to offer "a
message of support and the hope that we can continue to work together
with them".
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