TURKEY BEGINS ANOTHER FIGHT AGAINST UNITED STATES’ RECOGNITION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Karine Ter-Sahakyan
PanARMENIAN.Net
02.03.2010 GMT+04:00
The ballyhoo used in the American and Turkish press aims to prepare
Armenia for the inevitable.
It has become a tradition for Turkey to begin a fight against United
States’ recognition of the Armenian Genocide every year before
April 24. She may succeed this time too, taking into consideration
the fact that existence of the Turkish state depends on recognition
or non-recognition of the Armenian Genocide. However, voting in the
House Committee on Foreign Affairs will not change anything, like it
was in 2007.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ However, that has nothing to do with the Speaker,
or with the White House administration, which now more than ever
hardly desires strained relations with Turkey, and consequently with
the whole Islamic world. Thus, recognition or non-recognition of the
Armenian Genocide is a matter of human pragmatism and not a matter
of morality for the United States.
Turkey knows it perfectly well, and all this hype raised in the
American and Turkish press only aims at preparing Armenia for the
inevitable. That is, the Committee will approve and send it to the
House for voting. But because for final conclusion 228 votes are
necessary and this number cannot be reached even in the near future,
it can be assumed that this time too adoption of Resolution 252 will
be indefinitely shelved. We once wrote and would like to repeat that
this resolution is simply a House Resolution. It is not a law, but is
simply statement of a fact and nothing more. And the Diaspora is at
least naïve to believe that adoption of the resolution, even in the
form it now is, can make Turkey recognize the Armenian Genocide. They
say times have changed and the USA may be ready to go rather far
for normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations. But the question is
how far the Obama administration will actually go and how good these
steps will appear to be for the Armenian people in general. It goes
without saying that evil must be punished and remembrance of victims
of the monstrous massacre should not become a bargaining chip. But,
unfortunately, it is exactly what recognition of the Armenian Genocide
has recently become for the USA and other countries. Let us note that
the Genocide has been recognized only by those countries, which do
not depend on Turkey. And cruel fate of the Armenian people has long
been a bargaining chip in the hands of the powerful, this situation
lasting for 95 years already. Or, at least, so it looks, if emotions
are left aside. By the way, emotions only deteriorate the situation,
and we should follow the example of Turkey, which simply says: it’s
up to you to decide whether to adopt the resolution or to utter the
word "genocide" on April 24. But do not be offended if, after it,
the United States is considered an enemy, or at least an unfriendly
country, to Turkey and even to all of the Middle East.
All these considerations lead to the assumption that we’ll witness the
same situation as in 2009. Thank God, there is no need to ‘invent’ a
new term. There exists "Mets Yeghern", which, by the way, is synonymous
with the term "genocide". However, a different development is also
possible, as, in the opinion of experts, the probability of adoption
of Resolution 252 is greater than ever. And here a question arises:
Is the Armenian nation, and the Diaspora in particular, ready for
such turn of affairs? We are afraid to be regarded as pessimists,
but it is exactly what the nation is unprepared for; the nation that
has been waiting for justice for 95 years, and has been consistently
getting recognition of evil for at least the last 40 years. Under
the present circumstances we would be delighted to be mistaken in
our considerations, but it is essential to realize that no one will
ever give back territories or pay compensation for nothing. They’ll
have to pay for it, and the price may turn to be excessive…