DENT, REST OF CONGRESS MUST REVISIT ‘GENOCIDE’ VOTE
Abdullah Bozkurt
Allentown Morning Call, PA
ll-left_col-a.6099834oct21,0,1390206.story
Oct 21 2007
"Turkish people, including Turks in the Lehigh Valley, are very
sensitive on this issue. Their thousands of years of history show
how tolerant they are of other cultures and faith groups."
The headline on Professor Brian Mello’s op-ed column on Oct 16 was
misleading, as it said only Turkey holds the key to the Armenian
issue. As the saying goes, it takes two to tango, and this complex
dispute definitely needs more than two to find a solution.
It is disheartening to follow the developments regarding Congress’s
resolution calling for recognition of Armenian claims that goes back
nine decades. It does great disservice not only to the U.S. vital
interests in the region, but also is counterproductive to dialogue
undertaken by both the Turkish and Armenian governments in recent
years. This highly contested issue does not belong in a political
body whose members are open to influences by special interest groups
and lobbyists.
In the House of Representatives, It is obvious that Speaker Nancy
Pelosi is trying to pay lip-service to her constituency back in
California, with no regard to U.S. security interests in the volatile
region at the expense of only democratic Muslim ally, Turkey. Should
the resolution pass a floor vote, the only party that can claim victory
would be the Armenian diaspora, and it would be a symbolic gesture to
voters of Armenian descent. The diaspora has never allowed the case
to come before a properly constituted and competent international
court. Instead, they prompt parliamentary and other bodies to
"recognize the genocide."
Turkish people, including Turks in the Lehigh Valley, are very
sensitive on this issue. Their thousands of years of history show
how tolerant they are of other cultures and faith groups. When the
Spanish inquisition happened, Turks welcomed Jews. In World War II,
they opened the door to Jewish professors fleeing from Germany. At
the time, Ottoman Turks were issuing decrees granting protected status
to Orthodox churches and other Christian denominations in their domain.
Prominent British historian Professor Norman Stone wrote a great
op-ed piece published in the Chicago Tribune on Oct. 16. He said,
"In 1914, when World War I began in earnest, Armenians living in
what is now Turkey attempted to set up a national state. Armenians
revolted against the Ottoman government, began what we would now call
‘ethnic cleansing’ of the local Turks. Their effort failed and caused
the government to deport most Armenians from the area of the revolt
for security reasons." He also notes that large Armenian populations
of Istanbul, Izmir and Aleppo were not affected by the deportation.
Internal Ottoman documents talk of "deportation" in the context of
widespread Armenian nationalist risings in the early spring of 1915.
The Russians and the French used Armenian regiments and legionnaires.
The Ottomans themselves in 1916 put on trial about 1,300 men for
crimes during the deportation of the Armenians in 1915, convicted
many and executed some, including a governor.
Why don’t we leave the issue to accredited and respected historians
to sort it out rather than politicizing the records? What is it that
we are afraid of finding out? In recent years, the Turkish government
offered to establish a joint historical committee composed of neutral
and independent historians with impeccable records of integrity to
investigate claims and examine records.
Turks even suggested opening all internal state documents preserved
in national achieves for 100 years. But, the Armenian side refused to
take part in that review. The resolution in Congress does not mention
these facts, but rather lays blame on one side only — Turks. I
encourage our congressman Charlie Dent to revisit his vote, as many
of his colleagues did last week. I understand he wants to please the
Armenian community in preparation for his upcoming congressional race
in the 15th District, but his vote would hurt Turkish Americans in
his constituency, and is deemed offensive by many.
Abdullah Bozkurt of Bethlehem is president of the Lehigh Dialogue
Center. Its Web site is