Boston Globe, MA
Oct 13 2007

Inflaming the Turks
October 13, 2007

THE HISTORICAL evidence shows that the 1915-1917 massacres of
Armenians in eastern Turkey constituted what the world now knows as
genocide, and Turkey ought to acknowledge this reality. But a
resolution before Congress has provoked an upsurge of nationalism
that threatens US interests and would do nothing to lift Turkey’s
willful amnesia. It should not be pursued at this time.

"There’s never a good time," said Speaker Nancy Pelosi this week.
She supports the resolution, which was approved by the Foreign
Affairs Committee Wednesday and is now before the full House. That
committee vote, just one step in the legislative process, prompted
protests in Turkey and caused the government to summon its ambassador
home. Also this week, unrelated to the vote, the Turkish government
sought parliamentary approval for raids into Iraq to pursue Kurdish
guerrillas there. And as they have done for over four years, US
supply planes shuttled across Turkish air space, via the base at
Incirlik, to supply US forces in Iraq.

Approval of the resolution by the House would threaten use of the
base and make it harder for US diplomats to persuade the Turkish
government to stay out of Iraq. Eight former secretaries of state
have warned that its passage would harm US security interests.

This page recognizes the truth of the Armenian genocide, but with the
nation embroiled in Iraq, we agree that Congress should not
inadvertently complicate the mission of American forces.

The Armenian Assembly of America is right to contend that Turkish
denial of the genocide "seeks to rehabilitate the perpetrators and
demonize the victims." After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in
World War I, the Turkish government created a nationalist history
that made the Turkish sections of the empire the victims of allied
aggression, abetted by the Armenians. Acknowledging the genocide
today would tarnish that national image. To discourage revisionist
inquiries and control dissent, Turkey enforces a law against
insulting "Turkishness." This week, two editors were convicted of
violating that law because they reprinted articles stating that the
massacres of Armenians constituted genocide. Those articles had been
written by another editor, Hrant Dink, who was murdered in January
for speaking the truth.

The Turks need to begin an honest dialogue about the birth of their
nation and repeal the "Turkishness" laws. Others can help by
reminding Turkey, in nongovernmental settings, about the reality of
the genocide and by supporting Turks willing to examine their past.
Europeans are positioned to take the lead because of Turkey’s
aspirations to join the European Union. The House resolution, by
inciting the worst aspects of Turkish nationalism and creating
government-to-government friction, would delay a reckoning with
history.