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The Armenian Weekly; Volume 73, No. 46; Nov. 17, 2007
Commentary and Analysis:
1. When Will Phillips Learn?
By Serouj Aprahamian
2. Letter to the Editor
***
1. When Will Phillips Learn?
By Serouj Aprahamian
David L. Phillips, the infamous architect behind the State Department’s
covert, ill-fated and ultimately discredited Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation
Commission (TARC) has once again reared his head to tackle another one of
the many chickens that seem to be coming home to roost for Turkey.
I refer to the simultaneous resistance being waged against Turkish forces by
the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) and the increasing autonomy being
established by Kurds in northern Iraq. These developments have aroused the
Turkish establishment’s fears of having to face the fact that Kurds are a
distinct ethnic minority that make up 20 percent of their country’s
population. Can you imagine that? Kemalist Turkey actually admitting that
Kurds are a significant minority that has its own cultural and political
aspirations? Well, with the U.S. supporting the Kurdish Regional Government
(KRG) in northern Iraq, Turkish nightmares of having to deal with this
reality seem like they just may come true.
And that’s where Phillips comes in. On Nov. 8, he gave a talk at the
American University in Washington, where he laid out a proposal for how
Turkey can defeat the PKK. The two main pillars of his argument-based on a
report he prepared on the topic for the National Committee on American
Foreign Policy-are that Turkey should "drain the swamp" of PKK support by
further democratizing and pouring in money to the Kurdish regions, while
also realizing that the establishment of a Kurdish region in Iraq can
actually be of benefit to Ankara. It is suggested that the two governments
should embrace one another and ally for the sake of mutual prosperity. This
latter suggestion is particularly peculiar given the fact that Turkey has
not only refused to recognize the KRG, but has threatened to invade the area
to prevent a referendum on the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, scheduled to take
place later this year. Indeed, Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani has
repeatedly stated that he believes Turkey’s real target is Iraqi Kurdistan,
not the PKK.
To propose that Turkey would go from this hostile state of affairs to
exchanging roses and pleasantries with the Kurds in Iraq is a far-fetched
vision, to say the least. It is all the more surprising to hear such
recommendations coming from Phillips, a man who prides himself on being
"practical" and "pragmatic" in his goals and assessments. In contrast,
Phillips conspicuously fails to make much more basic and fundamental
suggestions that would get at the root of the problem. This includes ending
the Turkish military’s brutal policy of repression against the Kurds,
acknowledging their existence in the institutions and laws of society, and
granting them full cultural and political freedom. Until these things
happen, the chances of harmony between Turkey and the Kurds are
slim-to-none.
But for those who have followed Phillips throughout his adventures, we know
that he operates on a much simpler plane of logic. For him, things like
cultural expression, dignity, self-determination, justice and basic human
rights are minor considerations that can be brushed aside in favor of what
people really want: money. Thus, his incentive for both Kurds and Turks to
mend their relations is the prosperity that can supposedly be achieved for
both as a result of it.
For Turkey, it means greater investment in the flourishing economy of Iraqi
Kurdistan, hopes for entering the EU, and contracts for developing oil
fields in northern Iraq. For Kurds, their incentive is continued trade and
access to the West, which inevitably must run through Turkey. Phillips does
warn, however, that the economic interest of some, such as the PKK, will be
against stability and normalization. Such groups have allegedly turned the
struggle of the Kurdish people into a big business and are motivated by
continuing the money flow. As such, they must be neutralized.
The line of thinking here is virtually identical to that underpinning TARC’s
earlier efforts to stifle international recognition of the Armenian
genocide. Back then, we heard that this pesky genocide issue was simply
getting in the way of more important matters like trade and economic
integration between Armenia and Turkey. It was suggested that Armenia’s
economy would benefit from direct trade and regional projects, while the
Turks would be offered a new export market in which to dump their goods. The
only drawback: this little matter of genocide would have to be swept under
the rug and relegated away in Orwell’s "memory hole." Not to worry, though.
After all, the only people who were bent on keeping the issue of justice for
the Armenians alive, according to Phillips, were those extremist Dashnaks
who "use genocide recognition to solicit money from the Armenian Diaspora"
(from Phillips’ book on TARC, Unsilencing the Past).
Thus, for the mastermind behind TARC, Kurdish guerillas facing off against
the Turkish juggernaut and scraping away in the Qandil mountains are nothing
more than greedy, self-interested crooks who have turned Kurdish suffering
into a business, just as the thousands of volunteers who have shed their
blood, sweat and years fighting for the Armenian Cause are really just in it
to extort the diaspora. In this delusional world, the solution lies in
ignoring the core issues and supplanting cash for justice when addressing
problems. Accepting Turkey’s crimes and the injustice that it represents
translate into being "practical."
However, we know that quite the opposite is true. It is this illusionary
approach that is truly hopeless and impractical. It has failed in its
attempt to co-opt the Armenians and will fail again in the case of Turkey
and the Kurds. One can’t help but wonder: When will Phillips learn?
——————————————- ————-
2. Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor,
I read the interview with Gulnara Shahinian by Andy Turpin in the Oct. 27
issue of the Armenian Weekly ("Human Trafficking in Armenia: An Interview
with UN Human Trafficking Expert Gulnara Shahinian").
The seriousness of the topic is so grave that the way Andy Turpin tackled it
was very disappointing. Discussing such an important issue by relying on the
simple fact that the U.S. State Department classified Armenia on its Tier 2
Watch List cannot be acceptable to a reputable newspaper. There was not a
single number or statistic mentioned by Ms. Shahinian or brought in by the
paper itself, no comparison with other countries, no statistical comparisons
over the years or between the rural and urban areas of Armenia, no
differentiation between the various aspects of trafficking, and equally
important-no second opinions on the issue.
Ms. Shahinian should have backed her statements with factual details. The
U.S. State Department is a political entity and the information it puts out
is always driven by politics. Remember the chemical weapons’ labs of Iraq?
On the other hand, human trafficking issues were not first tackled in 1999
as claimed by Ms. Shahinian. They were tackled as early as 1994 and 1995
because some of the victims were being trafficked toward Middle Eastern
countries with considerable Armenian communities. The uproar in those
communities reduced trafficking towards those countries more than
considerably.
Zareh Guevshenian
Atlanta, Ga.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
