EDITORIAL: ANGER IN ANKARA, THE ISRAELI LOBBY TO THE RESCUE
By George Gregoriou
Greek News
me=News&file=article&sid=7534&mode=thr ead&order=0&thold=0
Oct 22 2007
Greece
The wolves are showing their teeth. Why the anger? It is only a
non-binding vote in the Foreign Relations Committee. It is not a
recognition that genocide was committed against the Armenians in
1915. The New YorkTimes, for the first time, referred to the Armenian
genocide of 1915 to 1918! That was a few days ago. Today, 10/13/07,
there was more on the 1915 genocide. How about the genocide from the
1870s to 1920s? But, there is no need to worry. There is no chance of
its being voted in the U.S. Congress. The most powerful lobby in the
United States, the Israel lobby, will not allow it. This lobby is so
powerful, anyone running for office, for the presidency or Congress,
must have the seal of approval from the Jewish lobby or that person
is politically finished. Remember how Hilary embraced Mrs. Arafat
and the two-state solution and then had to re-embrace the agenda of
the Israeli government? These zigzags are the real policies, just
opportunism. The principles are for the voters.
Turkey is not at the very top in lobbying activities in the United
States, but Ankara is not that far behind in importance to U.S.
imperial interests in the Middle East. It has Richard A. Gephardt
and the law-makers Robert Livingston, Robert Byrd (son-in-law is
Turkish(?)), the right-wing Republican establishment and Democrats
allied to the Israel lobby, the White House, the State Department,
the Defense Department, the CIA, the presidential veto, and the Israel
lobby, on the Turkish side. This is a formidable array of opponents
in a world where most people know that genocide was committed. Their
consciences are not troubled by this denial.
Every year, the Armenians and their supporters in Congress bring up
the issue of recognizing the Armenian genocide in 1915. Every year,
this recognition is defeated or postponed because of the intervention
of the powers that be in Washington. Turkey in the words of Sibel
Edmonds (The High-Jacking of a Nation) … "is one of the closest
allies of the United States, a most important member of NATO, a
candidate for EU membership, and the only Middle-Eastern close ally
and partner of Israel." Turkeyʼs highly prized status in the
United States due to its location as the artery connecting Europe
to Asia, its cross borders with Iran, Iraq and Syria to its East
and South, with the Balkan states to the west, and with the Central
Asian nations to its north and northeast. Even Shimon Perez opposed
this recognition in the past because he did not wish to dilute the
Jewish holocaust by recognizing the Armenian holocaust. Tony Blair
suggested that "Armenia and Turkey should resolve between themselves
the issues [genocide] which divide them." The words of Neil Frater
(Blairʼs Home office) were:
"the atrocities were ("an appalling tragedy" and the government
[Blairʼs] extended its sympathies to the descendants of the
victims."(Robert Fisk, The Great War for Civilization).
Presidential candidate George W. Bush stated on February 19, 2000 that
"the Armenians were subjected to a genocidal campaign…an awful
crime in a century of bloody crimes against humanity. If elected
President, I would ensure that our nation properly recognizes the
tragic suffering of the Armenian people … [As president] the word
genocide was an appalling tragedy, horrific killings, but referred
only to this loss of life [not genocide]." (Robert Fisk, The Great War
for Civilization). On October 11, 2007, The New York Times repeated
Bushʼs words: "We all deeply regret the tragic suffering of
the Armenian people that began in 1915 … This resolution is not
the right response to these historic mass killings, and its passage
would do great harm to our relations with a key ally in NATO and in
the global war on terror." Turkey was welcomed as a key ally in the
1920s, with the smell of oil in the Middle East. Then as an ally in
the war against Bolshevism, in the Washington policy to hook the 200
million Turkic people in the Muslim world into the US/Turkish orbit,
in the current policy to encircle Russia through economic and military
links with the former SU states, and the current pressures to force
Turkey into the EU in order to control the future of Europe.
The response to any criticism of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian
territories or the Turkish occupation of Cyprus and recognition of the
Armenian genocide is the same. You are accused of being anti-Semitic
or anti-Turkish. I have been accused and found guilty on both counts,
for criticizing the Israeli occupation of the Palestinians, making
references to the genocide of Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians (and
Kurds), and for being against the Turkish occupation and ethnic
cleansing in Cyprus, in place since 1974. For these crimes I plead
guilty.
If you do not toe the Israeli line, to repeat, you are politically
damaged, if not dead, in the United States. The money dries up,
and the attacks are relentless. The book, The Israel Lobby and U.S.
Foreign Policy by John J. Mearsheimer & Stephen M. Walt is a must
read, to put this in perspective. Ankara has a different twist to
this. The most powerful media is not in the hands of Turks, but Ankara
is supported by the Washington establishment. Nor are there enough
pro-Turkish voters to swing elections, as Jewish-Americans do.
The threats from Ankara and its enablers in the United States come in
warnings: canceling the arms deals; withdrawing support for American
air forces patrolling northern Iraq; the House passage alone is a
harsh American indictment; threats to cut off support for the American
war effort in Iraq; General Petraeus warned that its passage could
harm the war effort in Iraq; access to airfields and to the roads
and so on in turkey would be very much put at risk; and memories of
Turks are not that easy to erase once it hits sensitive spots. So,
if the lies are good for Ankara, they are good for Washington. They
must be good for the world.
These troubles are just the beginning. This axis of denial (Ankara,
Washington, Jerusalem, and London) cannot carry on forever. The
chickens are coming home to roost. This axis is already unraveling,
in Iraq, the Middle East, and the Islamic world. It will continue to
unravel because the policies will remain the same, and anti-Americanism
throughout the world.
It will reach a boiling point as Turkey is being forced into the
European Union. Recognition of the Armenian genocide is a prerequisite
to EU membership. So is the recognition of the genocide of the Greeks,
Assyrians, and other Christian groups in the Ottoman Empire and
Turkey. The persecution of the 15 million Muslim Kurds is included
in this list.
The political winds in the European Union are against Turkish
membership. The lack of democracy in Turkey (neither Ataturk statism
nor soft Islamism can be democratic) and recognition of the genocide
are key issues. So is the end of the Turkish occupation in Cyprus and a
resolution of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot conflict along democratic
lines, in a unified Cyprus. This rewarding of Turkish arrogance and
denial of the genocide, in the service of US imperial interests,
cannot be sustained at the expense of a long list of victims who
happened to be in the strategic pathways of controlling the oil
resources of the world and the global economy.
**George Gregoriou Professor, Critical Theory and Geopolitics
***Special Note: Professor Gregoriou is part of a team of writers
researching and writing a manuscript on the genocide in the Ottoman
Empire and Turkey. The contribution already submitted is on "The
Genocide of the Greeks in Anatolia and the Politics of Turkish
Denial." This manuscript is being prepared for publication in Europe
in the near future.