THINK TANK’S REPORT ON ARMENIA: YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR
Harut Sassounian

Noyan Tapan
April 21, 2009

Several pro-establishment Washington think tanks, such as the Center
for Strategic & International Studies, Jewish Institute for National
Security Affairs, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Brookings
Institution, Heritage Foundation, Council on Foreign Relations,
and American Enterprise Institute, have recently published special
reports that seek to influence U.S. policy-makers in favor of Turkey.

The latest such biased report, titled: "Turkey and Armenia: Opening
Minds, Opening Borders," was issued on April 14, by the International
Crisis Group. Serving on the ICG’s Board of Trustees are: Morton
Abramovitz, former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey; Richard Armitage,
former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State and member of the Honorary
Council of Advisors of U.S.-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce; Zbigniew
Brzezinski, former U.S. National Security Advisor to the President
and member of the Honorary Council of Advisors of U.S.-Azerbaijan
Chamber of Commerce; Guler Sabanci, Chairperson of Sabanci Holding,
Turkey; and Stephen Solarz, former U.S. Congressman and lobbyist for
Turkey. Listed among the ICG’s senior advisors are: Ersin Arioglu, a
member of the Turkish Parliament, and Shimon Peres, the President of
Israel. Not surprisingly, the Foreign Ministry of Turkey is a major
donor to the ICG. Not a single Armenian serves on ICG’s board or on
any of its advisory bodies.

The group’s 40-page report makes outrageous suggestions that are
extremely detrimental to Armenia’s interests. Here is what the ICG
recommends that the Armenian government do:

— Establish bilateral commissions with Turkey, which would include
a historical commission on the Armenian Genocide.

— Prepare the public opinion for reconciliation with Turkey.

— "Avoid statements or international actions relating to genocide
recognition that could inflame Turkish public opinion against the
current [reconciliation] process."

— "Start withdrawals from Armenian-occupied territories in Azerbaijan;
and pursue peace with Azerbaijan in full consciousness that only in
this way can normalizations with Turkey be consolidated.

— "Make clear that Armenia has no territorial claim on Turkey by
explicitly recognizing its territorial integrity within the borders
laid out in the 1921 Treaty of Kars."

— "Encourage universities and institutes to pursue more research on
matters relating to the events of 1915, preferably with the engagement
of Turkish and third-party scholars; modernize history books and
remove all prejudice from them; and organize the cataloguing of known
Armenian archives pertaining to the events in and around 1915 wherever
they may be located."

The Executive Summary of the Report starts its first line by trying
to perpetuate the false impression that "Turkey and Armenia are close
to settling [their] dispute." Everyone, except the "experts" who
drafted this report, knows full well that the negotiations between
Armenia and Turkey have collapsed and that the problem between the
two countries is not a "dispute," but committing Genocide!

The Executive Summary makes the surprising statement that the views
of Armenians and Turks on the Genocide are "converging," supposedly
"showing that the deep traumas can be healed." Continuing to present
fantasy as reality, the undisclosed authors of the report state:
"The advance in bilateral relations demonstrates that a desire for
reconciliation can overcome old enmities and closed borders. Given
the heritage and culture shared by Armenians and Turks [!], there is
every reason to hope that normalization of relations between the two
countries can be achieved and sustained."

One of the most outrageous comments made in the report is the one
claiming that "hardline" Diaspora representatives "have softened" their
stance, dropping their "demands that Turkey surrender territory in its
north east, where Armenians were a substantial minority before 1915."

The report welcomes Pres. Obama’s "prudent middle course," despite the
fact that he "repeatedly promised on the campaign trail to formally
recognize" the Armenian Genocide. Leaving no stone unturned in favoring
Turkey, the ICG also suggests that the U.S. House of Representatives
abandon the pending resolution on the Armenian Genocide.

Finally, the ICP urges that the United States, Russia and the European
Union "avoid legislation, statements and actions that might inflame
public opinion on either side and so could upset the momentum towards
Turkey-Armenia normalization and reconciliation."

This report is full of faulty analysis and one-sided judgments. The
sinister role played by think tanks such as the ICG should be exposed
to the public at large and their reports discredited.

The document published by ICG reads more like the terms of
capitulation imposed by a conquering army over a demolished nation
than a professional report drafted by impartial wise men. Clearly,
those who paid for it, dictated its content!