CONGRESS DEBATES LABELING 1915 ARMENIAN KILLINGS ‘GENOCIDE’
By Ivan Watson
CNN
March 4 2010
Resolution would recognize 1915 killings of ethnic Armenians in Ottoman
Turkey as genocide "It would harm U.S.-Turkish relations," said Burak
Ozugergin, Turkey’s foreign ministry spokesman Turkey officially denies
a genocide took place in the last days of the crumbling Ottoman Empire
Previous resolution in 2007 did not make it to the house floor
Istanbul, Turkey (CNN) — A key U.S. congressional committee debated
Thursday whether the 1915 killings of ethnic Armenians in Ottoman
Turkey should be officially recognized as genocide.
The nearly century-old issue has placed both Congress and the
White House in the middle of a political minefield, balancing moral
considerations with both domestic and international concerns.
Turkey, among other things, is considered a strong American ally and
is home to a critical U.S. air base.
A draft of the resolution being debated by the House Foreign Affairs
Committee calls on President Obama to "accurately characterize the
systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1.5 million Armenians
as genocide."
A Turkish foreign ministry spokesman recently issued a public warning
that passage of the resolution "would harm U.S.-Turkish relations."
Turkish officials also warned the resolution could hurt a historic
agreement aimed at normalizing relations between Turkey and its
neighbor Armenia, and on reopening their long-closed border.
"It would harm the normalization process," Turkish Foreign Ministry
spokesman Burak Ozugergin said. "And it is wrong. The substance is
also wrong."
Turkey officially denies a genocide took place in the last days of
the crumbling Ottoman Empire. Ankara instead says Muslim Turks and
Christian Armenians massacred each other on the killing fields of
World War I.
But every April 24, Armenians worldwide observe a remembrance day
for those killed. Historians have extensively documented the Ottoman
military’s forced death-march of hundreds of thousands of ethnic
Armenians into the Syrian desert in 1915.
The killings decimated the Armenian population in what is modern-day
eastern Turkey.
The Armenian government and influential Armenian diaspora groups have
urged countries around the world to formally label the events of 1915
"genocide."
The dispute over the bloody events of nearly a century ago continues
to divide Turkey and Armenia, two neighbors who do not share formal
diplomatic relations.
"I don’t pretend to be a professional historian," said Foreign
Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, D-California. "But the
vast majority of experts … agree that the tragic massacres of the
Armenians constitute genocide."
U.S. loyalty to Turkey doesn’t justify "turning a blind eye," Berman
said. It is "now time for Turkey to accept the reality of the Armenian
genocide."
Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York, acknowledged Turkey is an "important,
strong [and] necessary ally of the United States." But "overriding all
of that," he said, "is the issue of justice and the issue of history.
… History has to be righted. It has to be confronted. It has to
be acknowledged."
Opponents of the resolution expressed sympathy toward the victims
of the 1915 killings, but said current political concerns have to
take priority.
Rep. Mike Pence, R-Indiana, praised the committee’s "sincere effort"
to illuminate "a dark chapter in history," and said he believes the
killings constitute genocide.
But "now is not the time for this committee of the American Congress
to take up the measure that is now before us," he said, adding "I do
not minimize the horror that took place."
Turkey is a strategic partner of U.S. efforts in both Iraq and
Afghanistan, he said. In addition, the logistical support provided by
the U.S. base in Incirlik, Turkey, is a "staple" of American power
in the Middle East, he said. "In a time of war," the United States
should not "take the relationship [with Turkey] for granted."
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Virginia, said Congress should not do anything
to undermine the Turkish government, which is a "secular alternative
model for the Muslim world."
"I hate this vote," he said. "The United States has a great deal at
stake in the Turkish relationship," and passing the resolution would
jeopardize that relationship in both "little and big" ways. Congress
shouldn’t "pontificate on this issue" and then pretend "there will
be no consequences," he said.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Berman on Wednesday that
passage of the resolution could "impede progress on normalization
of relations" between Turkey and Armenia, according to White House
National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer.
Last year, the foreign ministers of Turkey and Armenia signed a series
of protocols aimed at establishing embassies in each other’s capital.
The U.S.-, European- and Russian-backed agreement also called for
the creation of an international committee of historians to examine
archives and "restore mutual confidence between the two nations."
In October 2009, Armenia’s president traveled to Turkey to attend a
historic soccer match between the two countries’ national teams.
Despite this round of "football diplomacy," the diplomatic overture
has slowed in recent months.
In a statement on its Web site last January, Armenia’s foreign
minister accused Turkey of "continuously and obviously trying to put
preconditions: It creates an impression of seeking artificial pretexts
and threatens the whole process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish
relations."
"Turkey is trying to wiggle out of the protocols for now because
it did not prove politically expedient for [the Turkish government]
under the circumstances that developed," said Nigar Goksel, a Turkish
foreign policy analyst with the European Stability Initiative who
closely monitors Turkish relations with the Caucasus region.
But Goksel warned that passage of the genocide resolution would also
hurt U.S. interests in the region.
"It’s a lose-lose for the U.S.," she said. "If the genocide bill
passes, [the government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan]
loses blood to the Turkish opposition and the establishment-segments
it is battling with, and has less political capital to justify
collaborating with America on other fronts, such as Iran."
In 2007, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a resolution
recognizing the Armenian "genocide." The Turkish government protested
by temporarily recalling its ambassador from Washington.
The resolution did not make it to the House floor.
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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
