ARMENIAN FOLLY
Helle Dale
Washington Times, DC
Oct 17 2007
A long-smoldering dispute between Turks and Armenians over events
nearly a century old has finally erupted into full flame in the
charged atmosphere of Washington politics in the shape of the Armenian
Genocide resolution. The nonbinding resolution passed the House
Committee on Foreign Affairs last week by a vote of 27-21, following
several unsuccessful attempts going back to 2000. House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi has pledged to make sure the resolution reaches the floor of
the House. If it passes, it will send shock waves throughout American
policy in the Middle East.
Maybe the problem is that the dead never really leave us. The Armenian
genocide by the Ottoman Turks took place almost a century ago, but
the ghosts of the estimated 1.5 million Armenians who lost their lives
in one of the most brutal ethnic-cleansing campaigns in history will
now haunt American efforts to create a stable and viable Iraq.
It is deeply regrettable, but rather than help right a great
historic wrong, the Armenian genocide resolution will now stand as
an egregious example of special-interest politics distorting a larger
national-security issue.
During World War I, most of Turkey’s Armenian population was driven
out of Anatolia and into the desert of Syria. There, most of them
perished from heat and thirst as they struggled to reach the area of
present-day Armenia.
What is wrong, one might ask, with officially acknowledging the
suffering and the destruction of these people? In one sense, nothing.
The history of the 20th century will not be complete until Turkey
recognizes, as Japan and Germany have, the horrors of past regimes.
Indeed, had Turkey many years ago accepted responsibility for the
sins of the past, we would not be where we are today.
The historical evidence of the genocide is solid and documented by
contemporary eyewitness accounts of foreign diplomats – which in
fact at the time caused considerable international uproar. However,
Turks even today tend react violently to any discussion of the
Armenian genocide, disputing everything from the methods to the
numbers. Turks have not been good advocates for their own cause and
have created sympathy in Europe and in the United States for the small,
impoverished Armenian nation next door to the east.
Nor did Turkey do itself much good in the opinion of many Americans,
when its parliament denied the United States the use of its airbases
for the invasion of Iraq. In Congress in particular, the argument
that Turkey is too valuable an ally to offend was severely undercut.
But the problem is that the Armenian genocide is the past — and this
is the present. As Rep. Tom Lantos correctly stated,"We have to weigh
the desire to express our solidarity with the Armenian people…
against the risk that it could cause young men and women in the uniform
of the United States armed services to pay an even heavier price."
In the present, the Armenian genocide resolution will affect
U.S. relations with Turkey, which, with all our ups and downs,
remains a vital strategic ally for the effort it Iraq.
It is through the Incirlik airbase in southeastern Turkey and through
supply routes via Turkey into northern Iraq that a majority of American
supplies and reinforcements flow.
At this point in time, stabilizing Iraq has to be the priority. In
addition to denying the United States the use of these bases, Turkey is
considering a military incursion into northern Iraq to attack Kurdish
extremist strongholds, a move the U.S. government strongly opposes.
American Armenians have pressed for the recognition of past wrongs
for a long time. They are understandably elated, but must pause to
consider the potential harm this will cause to the country that is
now their home and which has enabled them to become one of its most
prosperous ethnic communities.
Meanwhile congressional liberals are shamefully taking advantage of
a historic tragedy to achieve what they could not do otherwise,
i.e. severely hamstring the Bush administration’s efforts in
Iraq – using Turkey as the tool. California is home to the largest
Armenian community in the United States. The California congressional
delegation, including Mrs. Pelosi, has spearheaded the effort to pass
the genocide resolution.
Their strategy is clever, as well as totally unconscionable on so many
levels. Liberals of conscience, such as Mr. Lantos, ought to distance
themselves from this blow to the national interest. It serves neither
Armenians nor Americans.
Helle Dale is director of the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for
Foreign Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation. Her column appears
on Wednesdays. [email protected]