WHAT THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION IS REALLY ABOUT
By Yigal Schleifer/JTA
Jerusalem Post
92380634864&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowF ull
Oct 24 2007
Turkey blames US Jews for genocide bill
When a US Congressional committee approved a resolution recognizing
the World War I-era massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as
genocide, Turkey’s reaction was swift and harsh: Blame the Jews.
In an interview with the liberal Islamic Zaman newspaper on the eve
of the resolution’s approval October 10 by the US House Committee
on Foreign Affairs, Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said he had
told American Jewish leaders that a genocide bill would strengthen the
public perception in Turkey that "Armenian and Jewish lobbies unite
forces against Turks." Babacan added, "We have told them that we cannot
explain it to the public in Turkey if a road accident happens. We
have told them that we cannot keep the Jewish people out of this."
The Turkish public seems to have absorbed that message.
An on-line survey by Zaman’s English-language edition asking why Turks
believed the bill succeeded showed that 22 percent of respondents
chose "Jews’ having legitimized the genocide claims" – second only to
"Turkey’s negligence."
US Jewish community leaders reject that argument and privately
say Ankara has only itself to blame for its failure to muster the
support necessary to derail the resolution, which is seen in Turkey
as anti-Turkish.
Resentment lingers in Washington over the Turkish Parliament’s failure
to approve a March 2003 motion to allow US troops to use Turkish soil
as a staging ground for an invasion of Iraq.
And an official visit to Ankara in early 2006 by Hamas leader Khaled
Mashaal angered many of Israel’s supporters on Capitol Hill, who have
been among Turkey’s most vocal proponents as part of a strategy of
developing strong ties between Turkey and Israel.
"The Hamas thing was really serious," said an official from a large
Jewish organization. "There is less sympathy for Turkey because of
what some see as an anti-American, anti-Israel, anti-Jewish policy
that is there."
The official added, "I think there’s a sense on the Hill that Turkey
is less of an ally. There is a sense that it’s a different Turkey."
Soner Cagaptay, coordinator of the Turkish research program at the
Washington Institute for Near East Policy, echoed that thinking.
"The lingering effects of 2003 resonate," Cagaptay said. "Some people
are still angry with Turkey."
Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of
Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said the Jews
should not be blamed for the Armenia genocide bill, particularly not
by Turkish officialdom.
"We regret that some officials there are trying to lay the onus of
what’s happened on the Jewish community," Hoenlein told JTA. "They
shouldn’t allow some people to manipulate this initiative in Congress
to the detriment of this relationship, which is beneficial for
both sides."
Hoenlein, who met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
during last month’s UN General Assembly, said, "There is the same
commitment on the part of the organized community to support Turkey."
Observers in Turkey say the public perception of the Jews’ outsized
role in the resolution’s passage is based on an element of fact mixed
with a greater amount of fiction.
In August, the Jewish-run Anti-Defamation League, facing pressure
from grassroots activists, reversed its long-held policy of not
recognizing the Armenian genocide when ADL National Director Abraham
Foxman declared that what happened to the Armenians was "indeed
tantamount to genocide."
But Foxman maintained the ADL’s position, opposing a congressional
resolution on the matter. Such a resolution would strain US-Turkey
ties and jeopardize ties between Israel and Turkey, Israel’s main
Middle Eastern ally.
Nevertheless, the ADL’s reversal was seen in Turkey as a major blow
to the country’s diplomatic and public-relations campaign against
Armenian efforts to get a genocide resolution passed in Washington.
"Obviously the ADL’s switch was not good news," said Suat Kiniklioglu,
a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party and spokesman
for the Turkish Parliament’s foreign affairs committee.
Mustafa Akyol, an Istanbul-based political commentator who frequently
writes about religious issues, said the strong reaction to the
ADL’s policy switch and the perception that it somehow legitimized
the Armenians’ claims were based on an "inflated sense" of American
Jewish power among the Turkish public.
"There is a belief that [the resolution] couldn’t have happened
without Jewish support," Akyol said.
The House bill passed the committee by a 27-21 vote, with seven of the
committee’s eight Jewish members voting in favor of Resolution 106. The
full House of Representatives has yet to vote on the resolution.
Yet despite the vote, US Jewish groups said they lobbied against the
bill – just as they have done in the past.
"Behind-the-scenes support [from US Jewish groups] has been quite
powerful" in persuading congressmen to oppose the bill, said
Cagaptay. It may yet help prevent the bill from being brought to a
vote in the full House.
Turkish Jewish community leaders declined to be interviewed for this
story, but Turkey’s Jewish leaders published a full-page advertisement
in the Washington Times on the day of the vote voicing their opposition
to the House bill.
"We believe this issue should be decided first and foremost on
the basis of evidence adduced by historians, not on the basis of
judgments by parliamentarians or Congressmen, who naturally (and
understandably) may be influenced by concerns other than historical
facts," the statement said. "There have been insinuations that our
security and well-being in Turkey is linked to the fate of Resolution
106. We are deeply perturbed by any such allegations."
According to Cagaptay, "there is a trilateral relationship, which is
Turkey, Israel and the American Jews. The relationship is about good
ties between Turkey and Israel, and good ties between Turkey and the
American Jewish community, which makes up for the fact that Turkey
has not had, historically, a strong presence on the Hill."
This time, however, it seems Jewish opposition to the bill was not
enough to overcome support by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.),
a longtime supporter of Armenian-American issues, who has vowed to
bring the bill to a full House vote.