The National, UAE
March 6 2010
Turkey reacts with fury to US genocide claim
Thomas Seibert, Foreign Correspondent
Last Updated: March 05. 2010 11:17PM UAE / March 5. 2010 7:17PM GMT
Photo; Turkish nationalists hold signs calling for sanctions against
the US after American politicians called the killing of Armenians in
1915 genocide. EPA
ISTANBUL // Turkish-American relations were in turmoil yesterday after
a US congressional panel called on the United States government to
recognise the death of hundreds of thousands of Armenians in the First
World War as genocide, a move observers said would obstruct chances of
reconciliation between governments in Ankara and Yerevan.
`This was the last nail in the coffin of the protocols’ foreseeing the
establishment of diplomatic relations and the opening of the border
between Turkey and Armenia, Cengiz Aktar, a political scientist at
Istanbul’s Bahcesehir University, said yesterday. The protocols were
signed by both governments last year but have not been ratified.
Prof Aktar, a leading member of a group of Turkish intellectuals that
is calling for reconciliation between Turks and Armenians, said
government efforts to bring the two countries closer together had
ended in a `total fiasco’.
Despite lobbying by Turkey and a last-minute appeal by the White
House, the House of Representatives foreign affairs committee voted
23-22 to approve a non-binding resolution which calls on the US
president, Barack Obama, to ensure US policy formally refers to the
killing of the Armenians in 1915 as genocide.
It is not clear yet whether the resolution will reach the floor of the
House. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, warned against such
a resolution.
Following the vote, Ankara recalled its ambassador in Washington, a
very strong sign of protest in international diplomacy rarely seen
between two allies such as Turkey and the US. The office of Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, said in a statement the
his nation had been `accused of a crime it did not commit’.
Abdullah Gul, the Turkish president, warned of the adverse effects on
Turkish-US relations. `Turkey will not be responsible for any negative
consequence of this vote.’
Before the decision, Turkish media had reported that Ankara threatened
to cancel defence and civilian deals with US companies worth billions
of dollars. A small nationalist party said it would stage
anti-American demonstrations in several Turkish cities in protest.
Ahmet Davutoglu, the foreign minister and a driving force behind the
Turkish-Armenian protocols last year, said the US lawmakers were
`preventing a historic peace between the Turkish and the Armenian
peoples’. Mr Davutoglu said Turkey’s efforts to resolve disputes with
Armenia would continue, but that the vote in Washington put those in
jeopardy.
But there were also signs that Ankara is not interested in further
escalating tensions with the US. Mr Davutoglu said it was `early’ to
talk about retaliatory steps, in a reference to possible sanctions
concerning the Incirlik airbase in southern Turkey, an important
logistical hub for US troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also
said there was no question of pulling back Turkish soldiers from
Afghanistan.
Turkey fears a genocide recognition by a growing number of western
countries could lead to compensation demands or territorial claims by
Armenia. Parliaments in France, Switzerland and other countries have
passed resolutions condemning the Armenian genocide in recent years.
Mr Obama supported recognition as a US presidential candidate, but has
refrained from doing so since he came to office last year, citing
reconciliation efforts between Ankara and Yerevan.
The fate of the Anatolian Armenians is one of the most delicate issues
in Turkish society. Armenia and many international scholars say the
Ottoman Empire ordered the killing of the Armenians in the First World
War and that up to 1.5 million people perished in massacres and death
marches.
Turkey puts the death toll much lower and says the deaths were
unintentional consequences of a relocation campaign under wartime
condition. Ankara also says that many Muslim Turks were killed by
Armenian militants.
In the protocols signed after Swiss mediation last year, Turkey and
Armenia agreed to have historians look at the events of 1915. They
also said they would exchange ambassadors and open the border, which
has been closed since the early 1990s, when a conflict between
Turkey’s ally Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted over the region of
Nagorny-Karabakh, an Armenian enclave on Azerbaijani territory.
Under pressure from Azerbaijan and nationalists at home, Mr Erdogan
has promised his government would not send the protocols to parliament
for ratification until there is progress in the Karabakh question.
>From there, the process started to unravel as both the US and Armenia
had rejected linking the issues.
But Prof Aktar predicted that Turkish-Armenian reconciliation efforts
by individuals and society would continue.
One example is a project to rebuild a 10th-century bridge over the
Arpacay river that forms the border between Turkey and Armenia. The
bridge, which used to be an important crossing point on the Silk Road,
the historical trade route linking Europe and China, would be rebuilt
in a joint Turkish and Armenian effort, according to reports in the
Turkish press. Prof Aktar said that over time, the track of `civilian
diplomacy’ may become strong enough to influence official policy in
both countries.
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