Hayots Ashkharh Daily, Armenia
Oct 12 2007

THE HARD VICTORY OF JUSTICE

The process of recognizing the Armenian Genocide is inevitable

After long and tough discussions, the US House of Foreign Affairs
Committee approved Resolution # 106 recognizing the Armenian
Genocide, with 27 Congressmen voting for and 21 other Congressmen
voting against the bill. The further fate of the Resolution is now
dependant upon the firmness of the fundamental and honest attitude
adopted by Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives.
However, despite the further development of such a harsh victory,
one thing became clear after the historic debate that took place last
Wednesday. None of the two parties representing the legislative power
of the United States has the slightest doubt that Genocide against
the Armenian people was really committed in Ottoman Turkey in
1915-1923.Therefore, the October 10 discussions were in major part
devoted to two contradictory questions, which, however, were on
different planes.
The representatives of the Republican minority were trying to
convince the participants and the whole Armenian nation that they had
no doubt with regard to the historical fact that was included in the
draft resolution submitted by Congressman Adam Schiff.
There is simply one obstacle: the US national interest and first
of all – the problem of providing further supplies to the American
troops of Iraq demand that the Americans be extremely cautiousness
and avoid making Turkey angry. That’s to say, the Republicans
subordinate the issue of recognizing the Armenian Genocide to the
task of providing support to the US military operations of Iraq.
Unlike the Republicans, the representatives of the Democrat
majority firmly stood against this kind of primitive pragmatism and
proved that Resolution # 106 cannot harm the US national interests,
since it is not of binding nature and serves purely for the task of
condemning and preventing genocides. That means, the democrats denied
any attempts aimed at intermingling the recognition of the Armenian
Genocide with current political issues and at the same time showed
that the conversations about any serious counteraction by Turkey were
unfounded.
The voting that took place at the end mainly reflected the
contents of the speeches made in the Foreign Affairs Committee.
During the preceding years the US Republican Administration was not
particularly concerned about the decisions made by the Foreign
Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, because it had a
speaker like Dennis Hastret, who simply wouldn’t put the Resolution
to vote. The situation existing now is just the contrary, so the
Administration had previously made considerable efforts to kill the
Draft Resolution in the Foreign Affairs Committee and thus prevent it
from passing under the control of Democrat Nancy Pelosi. Therefore,
the victory achieved can be considered a serious breakthrough in
terms of the final adoption of Resolution # 106.
However, we believe that the US House of Foreign Affairs Committee
discussions, publicized all over the world, are much more important.
They finally put an end to all the arguments of the Turkish denial
policy.
Actually, the speakers pilloried the country that had committed
the Armenian Genocide and publicized all over the world that Turkey’s
arguments regarding the 1915-1923 events were totally unfounded. This
kind of signal cannot remain unnoticed for the whole civilized
mankind; therefore, we are in store of a new wave of developments
regarding the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. And this wave of
developments may surpass all the others that have preceded it.
The next important achievement was the following idea included in
Resolution # 106 on the Recognition of the Armenian Genocide: the
Armenians were not only subjected to physical extermination but also
deprived of their homeland where they had been living for nearly 2.5
years. Thus, it turns out that unlike the Jewish Holocaust, the
Armenian Genocide is not only Genocide but also a `patroiocide’; i.e.
depriving the Armenians of their fatherland and destroying their
centuries-old homeland.
What is in store after the historic victory, and is there a
possibility for such a development of events that may be unfavorable
for us?
We believe that the only possible surprise that may occur before
the Plenary Session of the House of Representatives is the
realization of Turkey’s intention of invading Iraq and eliminating
the PKK fulcra. Nonetheless, Turkey may, at the last moment, give up
it intention, receiving certain guarantees in return. And these may
include such guarantees that concern the Armenian Issue. It is also
possible for the October 10 voting to have a more distinct
continuation with the purpose of preventing the operation of the
Turkish military machine and punishing the country.
Be it as it may, the realization of the Iraqi federalization
project and the inevitability of Turkey’s responsive counteraction
present the new stage of America’s Near East project in which Armenia
has been given the role of a `strategic reserve’.
After all, this is the factor that makes the recognition of the
Armenian Genocide inevitable and turns the Armenian Issue into a most
serious counteraction aiming to restrain and disintegrate the
responsive steps of Turkey, which always resists the US programs.

VARDAN GRIGORYAN