ANTI-TURKEY BILL COULD CAUSE NEEDLESS HARM

Detroit News, MI
D=/20071012/OPINION01/710120332/1008
Oct 12 2007

U.S. House considers resolution condemning WWI ‘genocide’

The decision by a committee of the U.S. House to pass a resolution
branding Turkey’s 1915-1916 massacre of Armenians a genocide has
needlessly inflamed U.S. relations with Turkey at a sensitive time.

Whether the move was a gesture resulting from domestic political
imperatives or an attempt at mischief-making against the Bush
administration’s Iraq War policy or a combination of both, it risks
damaging America’s standing with a Muslim power in the region and a
solid U.S. ally.

Turkey until recently has been a strictly secularist Muslim country,
but the election as president of Abdullah Gul, a politician with
political roots as an Islamist, has caused concern about Turkey’s
future direction.

In addition, Turkey and the United States have clashed over Turkey’s
continuing skirmishes with its separatist Kurdish population, which
Turkey contends is abetted by the Kurds in northern Iraq who are
supported by America.

After the decision by the House Foreign Affairs Committee to send the
genocide resolution to the floor, Turkey recalled its ambassador to the
United States for "consultations." Earlier, the American ambassador to
Turkey was summoned to the Turkish foreign ministry so the government
could express its unease over this matter.

The Turkish prime minister phoned President George W. Bush and former
President Bill Clinton to object to the resolution. There is no reason
that the resolution has to be passed now, but plenty of reasons to
shelve it.

Cargo flights and other goods destined for the U.S. military in Iraq
now pass through Turkey. That arrangement could be threatened by the
genocide resolution.

Representatives of some Armenians who remain in Turkey, such as the
Armenian Orthodox patriarch, have expressed worries that they could
face harsh repercussions.

The Bush administration has pleaded with Congress not to adopt the
resolution, as have the eight living former secretaries of state.

We have little doubt that the slaughter of Armenians by the Turks
during World War I would qualify as a genocide.

Not a single victim of the violence against the Armenians by the Turks,
however, would be helped by this resolution. But a lot of damage
could be done to the interests of living Americans and possibly even
Armenians in Turkey.

That’s a high price to pay for a symbolic gesture.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress