RADICAL US ARMENIANS PLAN TO BOYCOTT CLINTON MEETING
Hurriyet Daily News
Jan 18 2010
Turkey
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. AP photo
The Armenian National Committee of America, or ANCA, the largest
and most radical Armenian-American group, has said that it is not
planning to attend a meeting next month between U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton and major Armenian-American organizations to
discuss the Turkey-Armenia reconciliation process.
The ANCA, in a weekend statement, said its move is in protest of
a State Department stance to decline to invite many influential
Armenian-American groups, which oppose the normalization talks between
Ankara and Yerevan.
Invited to attend the Feb. 9 meeting with Clinton were the Armenian
Assembly of America, the Armenian General Benevolent Union, the
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern), the Diocese of
the Armenian Church (Western), the Knights of Vartan, and the ANCA.
The ANCA accused the State Department of not inviting to the
meeting the Eastern U.S. and Western U.S. Prelacies of the Armenian
Apostolic Church, Apostolic Exarchate for Armenian Catholics, Armenian
Evangelical Union of North America, Armenian Missionary Association of
America, Armenian Relief Society, Armenian Bar Association, Armenian
International Women’s Association, Armenian Rights Council of America,
Armenian Youth Federation, Hamazkayin Armenian Cultural & Education
Association, Homenetmen Armenian General Athletic Union, Tekeyan
Cultural Association, United Armenian Fund, and the U.S.-Armenia
Public Affairs Committee.
"I am writing to share our serious concern that your initial round of
invitations to Armenian-American organizations to meet with you this
coming Feb. 9 does not represent our traditional community leadership
nor does it reflect the widely understood Armenian-American opposition
to the Turkey-Armenia protocols," ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian said
in a letter sent to Clinton last week, according to the ANCA statement.
"As presently configured, the meeting you have proposed will not
serve the vital and worthwhile aim of healthy discourse, and would,
at this sensitive moment, in fact be counter-productive. The current
arrangement, which, by all appearances, intentionally excludes so
many of our traditional community and church leaders on the basis of
their views and values, would set an undemocratic and highly negative
precedent," Hachikian said. "We would not be able to meaningfully
participate under these narrow and exclusionary terms," he said.
Strong US support
The Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers signed a set of agreements
on Oct. 10 under which Ankara and Yerevan should set up normal
diplomatic relations and reopen their land border. U.S. President
Barack Obama’s administration strongly supports this process.
But there are signs that the reconciliation process could face an
uphill battle. The Turkey-Armenia accord needs to be ratified by the
parliaments of the two neighbors before implementation, and there
is no indication of when both nations may bring the deal to their
parliaments.
The problem that lies at the root of the problem is the unresolved
Nagorno-Karabakh dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Turkey’s
close friend and ally. Turkey first wants to see progress toward
the solution of the Karabakh conflict before opening its border with
Armenia. And the Armenians are hinting no sign of this.
Nagorno-Karabakh, a mostly Armenian-populated enclave inside Azerbaijan
and parts of Azerbaijan proper, has been under Armenian occupation
since a war in the early 1990s. As a result of this war, Turkey has
refused to set up normal diplomatic relations with Yerevan and has
kept the land border with Armenia closed since 1993.
The ANCA is staunchly opposing the Ankara-Yerevan process and seeking
to obtain formal U.S. recognition of the World War I-era killings of
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as "genocide."
The Armenian Assembly of America, the second-largest Armenian-American
group, which will attend the meeting with Clinton, says it in principle
supports the Turkey-Armenia process. But at the same time, it also
pursues U.S. genocide recognition.
Turkey has strongly warned that any formal U.S. "genocide recognition,"
either by the administration or in Congress, would lead to a major
and lasting deterioration of bilateral ties.