WE KNEW RESOLUTION WOULD IRRITATE TURKS – SO WHY PASS IT?

Modesto Bee, CA
Oct 17 2007

This editorial appeared originally in Saturday’s Boston Globe

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 U.S. 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, U.S. supply planes
shuttled across Turkish air space, via the base at Incirlik, to supply
U.S. 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 U.S. security interests.

This newspaper 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.

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