ARMENIA AND TURKEY: LOBBY GROUPS OPPOSING CONFIRMATION OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR CENTRAL ASIA AND CAUCASUS
Joshua Kucera

Eurasianet

April 23, 2009

The nomination of a key State Department official responsible for
Central Asia and the Caucasus is being held up because of concerns
about his views on Turkish-Armenian relations.

At the heart of the simmering controversy surrounding Philip Gordon’s
confirmation as assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia is
his comments on the mass killings and deportations of ethnic Armenians
in Ottoman Turkey that occurred during the second decade of the 20th
century. Since gaining independence in 1991, Armenia has pressed for
international recognition of the tragedy as genocide. [For background
see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Gordon, a scholar at the Brookings Institution, had a confirmation
hearing before a Senate committee on March 27. During that hearing,
he declined to characterize the events of 1915, when an estimated 1.5
million Armenians perished, as "genocide." Instead, he used the term
"tragedy." He also said that he was concerned that a congressional
resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide would "provoke a
nationalistic backlash in Turkey."

The Senate committee proceeded to endorse Gordon’s nomination. But his
responses did not sit well with Armenian-American lobby groups, which
subsequently mobilized opposition among their allies in Congress. One
senator has placed a hold on the nomination, and until the hold is
removed, the full Senate will not be able to vote on the nomination.

Senators do not have to identity themselves on a hold, but a Senate
source told EurasiaNet that the member was John Ensign, a Republican
from Nevada who has co-sponsored a congressional resolution on the
genocide in the past. A spokesman from Ensign’s office did not return
calls and emails seeking comment.

Prospects that the United States would officially recognize the 1915
events as genocide have risen with the election of Barack Obama. Obama,
during his presidential campaign, pledged to recognize the genocide
if elected, although in a recent visit to Turkey he declined to use
the word "genocide." [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

That disappointed Armenian lobby groups. Aram Hamparian, the executive
director of the Armenian National Committee of America, said Obama’s
comments in Turkey represented "a missed opportunity." But he said
that he was hoping for Obama to use the word "genocide" on April 24 —
the day that Armenians traditionally remember the tragedy. "He has
an opportunity to honor his pledge on [April 24]," Hamparian said.

Representatives of Armenian lobby groups contend that Gordon’s
nomination was troubling and not in line with Obama’s stated
views. "Our concern is that his remarks, his writings and his responses
to Senate questions during his confirmation process were markedly
at odds with the president’s record on the Armenian genocide,"
Hamparian said "The president has said that the Armenian genocide
should be recognized."

The Armenian Assembly of America also urged Gordon to get his views
in line with other members of the administration: "With President
Obama, Vice President Biden and Secretary of State Clinton’s clear
and consistent record with respect to US affirmation of the Armenian
Genocide, the Assembly expects that, if confirmed, Philip Gordon
will fully embrace this important human rights policy position,"
said Bryan Ardouny, executive director of the assembly.

Gordon previously served in government in the administration of
former president Bill Clinton, as director for European affairs at the
National Security Council. During the presidential campaign, he served
as head of the Europe team in Obama’s group of foreign policy advisers.

Recently, however, he has been a scholar at the Brookings Institution,
and has written extensively on Turkey. As part of the confirmation
process, Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, asked for
details on foreign funding to Brookings. According to figures released
by the think tank, since 2006 Brookings has received $200,000 from
the Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association, $200,000
from Sabanci University, $150,000 from the Eksiogullari Group (a
construction company in Turkey), and $100,000 from the Dogan Yayin
Holding Company, a media-entertainment conglomerate.

Brookings, in a note attached to the spreadsheet listing the donations,
said that the "primary funding for the work of Philip H. Gordon
in 2006-2007 was provided by the Smith Richardson Foundation. From
2007-2009 primary funding was provided to Mr. Gordon by the Norwegian
Foreign Ministry, the Carnegie Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers
Fund, and the Brookings Endowment."

Hamparian, of the ANCA, said the funding suggests that writings by
Brookings scholars, including Gordon and Mark Parris, a former US
ambassador to Turkey who also works at Brookings, are compromised.

Melissa Skolfield, the vice president for communications at Brookings,
responding to a EurasiaNet query via email, offered a spirited
defense of the independence of the institution’s analysis. "Brookings
is committed to high-quality, independent research, and all of our
scholars share that commitment," Skolfield said. "Our donors respect
our independence to pose questions, search for answers and present
our findings based on the facts."

Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, posed a series of written
questions about Armenian issues to Gordon. The ANCA provided Gordon’s
responses to the questions to EurasiaNet.

In one question, Menendez asked "How does the non-use of the
genocide term, as you have advocated, advance US efforts to promote
Armenian-Turkish reconciliation?" Gordon responded: "I believe the
United States should strongly support Armenian-Turkish reconciliation
and avoid steps that could derail that process or discourage either
party from participating in the ongoing dialogue."

Editor’s Link: Joshua Kucera is a Washington, DC,-based freelance
writer who specializes in security issues in Central Asia, the Caucasus
and the Middle East.