Fresh push on ‘genocide’ law threatens ties with Turkey
By Daniel Dombey in Washington and Delphine Strauss in,Ankara
FT
March 6 2009 02:00
The US Congress is renewing a push on legislation that Turkey has
warned could devastate Washington’s ties with one of its staunchest
Nato allies.
Sponsors of a resolution branding the Ottoman empire’s 1915-1923
massacres of Armenians as genocide have begun gathering backers for the
measure, which has long been supported by Barack Obama, US president.
Ankara, which has frequently warned that the legislation could endanger
both Turkish-US and Turkish-Armenian relations, halted an attempt to
pass the legislation in 2007 after calling into question US use of its
Incirlik airbase.
Mr Obama is confronted with a choice between breaking a campaign pledge
or risking long-standing defence ties with a strategic ally.
Ali Babacan, Turkish foreign minister, said this week that Ankara would
take a "positive" approach if Washington asked for help in its exit
from Iraq. The US also wants more assistance from Turkey in
Afghanistan. A Turkish delegation is in Washington to hammer home the
message that the genocide resolution is "unacceptable" and would
inflame public opinion.
Turkey’s leaders are expected to raise the issue with Hillary Clinton,
US secretary of state, when she visits Ankara tomorrow. They are likely
to argue that passing the resolution would also derail a drive to mend
relations between Turkey and Armenia, including moves to open the
border.
Mr Babacan says settlement is closer than at any point since 1915.
Members of Congress say US frustration with recent Turkish behaviour
raises the chances of the resolution going through. In particular, the
denunciation by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, of
Israel’s Gaza offensive has angered Jewish and pro-Israel groups that
supported Turkey behind the scenes in 2007.
Mr Obama promised during his election campaign "to recognise the
Armenian genocide" were he to become president – a step that would have
more impact than the House of Representatives’ resolution.
Samantha Power, one of Mr Obama’s closest foreign policy advisers and
author of a book on genocide, also supports such recognition.
A key moment will come on April 24, the official day of remembrance,
which in previous years has seen former presidents Bill Clinton and
George W. Bush refer respectively to "the deportations and massacres"
and the "annihilation" of 1.5m Armenians.
But congressional backers of the resolution say they will formally
introduce it before then.
"I don’t think it serves our interests well to be complicit in Turkish
denial of something that is historical fact," said Adam Schiff, a
Democratic member of the House and one of the measure’s chief sponsors.
Turkey denies systematic killings, and maintains thousands of Turks
also died during the violent disintegration of the Ottoman empire.
The US state department has always fought the resolution, fearing its
impact on relations with Turkey.
Discussing the 1915 massacres is no longer the taboo it once was in
Turkey, but the "G-word", as Turkish diplomats refer to it, still
provokes official outrage and a visceral reaction from nationalists.
A foreign ministry spokesman said Turkey expected "third parties" to
avoid making talks with Armenia more difficult, but added: "There are
no assurances in life."
Mark Stephen Kirk, a Republican backer of the resolution who denounces
the use of millions of dollars of Turkish "taxpayers’ money" for
"foreign lobbyists" fighting the measure, says the Incirlik base is
less important now that the Obama administration plans to keep up to
50,000 troops in Iraq until the end of 2011.
But the administration says Incirlik is still significant for
operations in Iraq – while acknowledging it has yet to make up its mind
on the genocide resolution.
"Incirlik airbase has all the time been an important transit hub," says
a senior state department official. But his comments on the genocide
resolution were much more cautious than the Bush administration’s
admonitions against it.