Turkey needs to admit a genocide happened
Calgary Herald
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Turkish protests which erupted last week over a vote in a United
States congressional committee only prove that Turkey must come to
terms with its history before it can join the European Union and win
anything more than respect born of geopolitical necessity.
Public and governmental outrage in Turkey was sparked when the House
Foreign Affairs Committee passed by 27 votes to 21 a resolution
condemning as genocide the 1915-1917 slaughter of an estimated 1.5
million Armenians and forced deportation of many more by a
revolutionary Turkish government anxious to rid the country of what it
considered to be subversive non-Muslim elements. At least 20 foreign
nations, including Canada, have over the years recognized the killing
as a genocide. It is refreshing to see a small part of Congress add
its voice to the chorus, even if the resolution is non-binding and
likely to fail when it comes before the House of Representatives.
There is not a shred of doubt that the genocide happened. The Turkish
interior minister at the time, Talat Pasha, even told a German
reporter that they had to get rid of all the Armenians regardless of
guilt because "those who were innocent today might be guilty
tomorrow." News and evidence of the killings were leaked by foreign
observers to Western governments, but — as with the genocide in
Rwanda nearly 80 years later — nothing was done.
Famously prickly and nationalist, Turkey has always denied that a
genocide took place and claims that many Turks died, too. Turkey has
gone to absurd lengths to discredit dissenting opinions to the point
of disrupting foreign academic conferences, limiting ties with
governments that recognize the genocide and stifling domestic
discussion by prosecuting people under a law which prohibits
"insulting Turkishness."
This latest hue and cry is echoed by the White House, which strongly
opposes the resolution out of political expediency. Turkey is an
important NATO ally and the site of the Incirlik air base, a crucial
supply and transit hub for American forces stationed in Iraq. Worse,
Turkey’s government has been making noises about entering the
heretofore relatively peaceful northern part of Iraq in pursuit of
troublesome Kurdish rebels who use the area as a refuge in an
intermittent campaign of guerrilla warfare against Turkey. This would
be a disaster for American efforts to stabilize Iraq and the Bush
administration is eager to head things off at the pass.
While the logic of this position is understandable, the morality is
not. This is not an age prepared to mix blood with water under the
bridge. If Turkey is ever to stand unencumbered on the global stage,
it must accept its grisly past and make amends.
Time heals all wounds, but only if those who inflicted the injuries will let it.
(c) The Calgary Herald 2007
Source: ialpage/story.html?id=2dd45f8b-64e7-428c-b4e0-b4a3 4af889f2
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
