ARMENIA HAILS GENOCIDE VOTE
By Tatul Hakobian in Yerevan
armradio.am
19.10.2007 10:39
Politicians in Armenia have welcomed a vote by a US Congressional
committee recognising the mass killings of Armenians in early 20th
century Ottoman Turkey as genocide.
Despite Turkey’s anger over the move, Armenian politicians and
commentators say they do not expect major repercussions, if only
because relations between the two states are tenuous.
Congress Foreign Affairs Committee passed the non-binding "Affirmation
of the United States Record on the Armenian Genocide Resolution" on
October 10, by 27 votes to 21 votes. The resolution is now set to go
forward to Congress itself.
The resolution says that genocide took place between 1915 and 1923,
and involved the killing of 1.5 million Armenians and the expulsion
of half a million more from the east of the Ottoman Empire.
The vote caused excitement in Armenia. Alina, 26, who lives in Yerevan,
said she received numerous text messages and emails after the news
broke. "We all congratulated each other," she said.
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan, who was visiting Brussels when
the vote took place, hailed the outcome as a triumph for Armenians
worldwide.
On the question of the implications for Armenia’s relations with
Turkey, he said, "Recognition of a historic injustice cannot damage
bilateral relations."
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had earlier warned that if
the resolution went through, it would damage his country’s relations
not only with the United States but with Armenia as well.
"Those who expect any positive moves from Turkey will be left alone
with their problems," said Erdogan. "They will pay for their hostility
towards a country as important as Turkey."
Egemen Bagis, a foreign policy adviser to Erdogan, was more specific,
accusing Armenian officials for lobbying Congress.
"Turkey must impose sanctions against Armenia," he told CNN-Turk
television. "Turkey has already drawn up a list of what it will do
and when it will do it, and the prime minister has already given the
necessary orders."
Lobbying for recognition of the genocide has been at the top of
Armenia’s foreign policy agenda for the past decade. A "national
security strategy" adopted in February 2007 says that achieving
universal recognition and condemnation of the genocide, including by
Turkey, is seen "not only as the restoration of historical justice,
but also as a way of improving the mutual confidence in the region
and of preventing such crimes in future".
Turkey did not establish diplomatic relations with Armenia when it
became independent of the Soviet Union in 1991. Their common border
remained open until April 1993, when the Turks closed it after Armenian
forces captured the Kelbajar region adjacent to Nagorno Karabakh. This
was at the height of the Karabakh war, in which Turkey was sympathetic
to Azerbaijan.
Yet despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties, relations with Turkey
are still far better than with Azerbaijan. Armenian nationals are
free to enter Turkey, simply buying a visa at the border. There are
two direct flights a week between Istanbul and Yerevan.
Turkey has a 70,000-strong Armenian population of its own, concentrated
largely in Istanbul. But some reports suggest that there are also
about 30,000 Armenian nationals living and working in Turkey.
International media reported last week that some of those Armenians
were suffering. The Irish Times reported that 100 illegal migrants
from Armenia had been detained in Turkey and would be deported
to Armenia. "The deportation is seen as revenge for the genocide
resolution," the newspaper said.
The only Armenian diplomat in Turkey, Karen Mirzoyan, who represents
his country at the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization,
confirmed the reports. "I have unofficial data to hand that confirm
the facts," he said. "I can’t provide more accurate information,
because these issues are beyond my competence."
In Yerevan, however, foreign ministry spokesman Vladimir Karapetian
said that official information obtained from the Turkish authorities
indicated that of the 542 foreigners detained recently for illegal
residence, only one was an Armenian citizen.
Ara Gochunian, editor of the Istanbul-based Armenian daily Zhamanak,
told IWPR by telephone that Turkish police were taking tougher action
against illegal immigrants of any ethnicity.
"There are Armenians among those detained," he said. "But they were
detained not because they are Armenians, but because they are illegal
residents and had problems with their visas."
In contrast to most of the Diaspora, the Armenian community in
Istanbul opposed the US Congressional resolution, and the Armenian
Patriarch of Constantinople, Archbishop Mesrop Mutafyan, went to the
US to press for the resolution not to go through.
"We will try to prevent the resolution from being passed by the US
House of Representatives," the Turkish news agency Anadolu cited him
as saying. "We are concerned that this resolution may impact on the
lives of Armenian citizens in Turkey."
Robert Hattechian, editor of the Istanbul-based Armenian daily Marmara,
recalled that strong anti-Armenian sentiment manifested itself in
Turkey after the murder of the well-known journalist Hrant Dink in
January. He fears the US resolution will fuel Turkish nationalism.
"Turkey’s spite is now leveled against the Armenian Diaspora,"
Hattechian said by telephone from Istanbul.
Citing Prime Minister Erdogan’s approval of Patriarch Mesrop’s
lobbying effort, Hattechian noted, "The Armenian community in Turkey
has avoided making moves that might cast doubt over its loyalty."
On October 11, a court in Istanbul court handed out one-year suspended
sentences to Arat Dink, son of the murdered journalist and senior
editor with the Agos newspaper, and editor Sarkis Serobian for
republishing an interview Hrant Dink gave last year about the 1915
mass killings of Armenians. Sentence was passed just a few hours
after the US resolution went through.
In Armenia, the view among experts seems to be that relations with
Turkey are unlikely to deteriorate drastically, partly because Ankara
cannot afford to make things worse than they are now.
"The border is closed, there are no diplomatic ties, and trade
is carried out through third countries," said political analyst
Alexander Iskandarian. "The resolution will be forgotten in a few
months’ time. But it is not just a resolution, it’s a process of
recognising the genocide, it’s a train that has started moving."
He predicted, "If Turkey continues on the path it’s on now, in other
words seeking membership of the western community, then in five,
ten or 15 years it will inevitably find itself having to improve its
relationship with Armenia."
Haik Demoyan, the director of Yerevan’s Genocide Museum Institute,
agreed, telling Armenian Public Radio that, "when a country closes
its border with its neighbour, imposes a blockade on it and severs
diplomatic ties, the only thing worse that one can imagine happening
is a war. I don’t think Turkey will dare complicate relations further."
Vahan Hovhannissian, the deputy speaker of the Armenian parliament
and one of the leaders of the nationalist Dashnaktsutiun party,
argued that recognition of the genocide might actually serve to
unblock relations with Turkey.
"The argument that recognition of the Armenian genocide is going to
damage efforts to normalize Armenian-Turkish relations is completely
wrong," he said. "On the contrary, so long as the genocide remains
unrecognized at an international level, Turkey will not have an
interest in improving relations with Armenia and the Armenians."
Tatul Hakobian is a commentator for the Public Radio of Armenia and
the New-York-based weekly newspaper Armenian Reporter.