Xinhua, China
March 6 2010

Turkish furor over U.S. resolution on genocide

English.news.cn 2010-03-06 05:58:03 FeedbackPrintRSS

by Cinar Kiper

ISTANBUL, March 5 (Xinhua) — Turks are up in arms over the passing of
a resolution by an American congressional committee on Thursday
recognizing the killings of Armenians in 1915 as genocide.

Immediately after the 23-22 vote in favor of the resolution came in,
the Prime Minister’s Office released a statement warning of the
consequences of the decision.

A press release by the government stated the result had been " met
with sorrow" and denounced the resolution accusing the Turkish people
of a crime they did not commit. Turkey’s official, and popular, stance
has been that no genocide was committed in 1915 and it regards the
events as civil strife in wartime claiming the lives of many Turks and
Armenians.

Turks have been very sensitive to genocide allegations; the president
of the Human Rights Association Ozturk Turkdogan told Xinhua, "When
the word genocide comes up, Turks just shut their ears."

Turkdogan added, "Turkey is an ideological nation-state, and like
other ideological nation-states, it has difficulty facing up to its
past."

Former Democratic Left Party (DSP) parliamentarian Teoman Akgur told
Xinhua that the resolution will not pass in the long run, as "some
hero will block it before it becomes a bill." Similar non- binding
resolutions had been passed by the House of Representatives’ Foreign
Relations Committee in 2000, 2005 and 2007, but all of which had been
blocked by White House pressure from going to a general House vote.

Yet the office of the prime minister warned, "We worry that the
passing of this resolution by the committee despite all our
admonitions might harm Turkish-U.S. relations and might halt the
Turkey-Armenia normalization process."

Retired Consul General Mengu Buyukdavras told Xinhua that because
Turkey and America have enjoyed a special relationship since the
1950s, "Turkey will not be quick to forgive and forget America’s
passing of the resolution, but it would be the Turkish- Armenian
relationship that would suffer the most."

INFLUENCE ON TURKEY-ARMENIA TIES

Turkey and Armenia have been bogged down in the row over the deaths of
Armenians and have no diplomatic or economic ties since Armenia
declared its independence in 1991.

In October, the two countries signed historic deals on normalizing
ties and reopening their borders after decades of hostilities. The
agreements need to be ratified by both countries’ parliaments before
taking effect.

Regarding the "normalization protocols" signed in Zurich last October,
writer and journalist Cengiz Aktar told Xinhua, "It is now impossible
to bring them up for approval, even the (ruling) Justice and
Development Party’s parliamentarians might not support it. The
normalization process is now in deep-freeze."

Burak Kuntay, head of the American Research Center at Bahcesehir
University, told Xinhua that relations with Armenia had been
progressing positively in recent years, but "being labeled murderers
from the other side of the world can only hurt this process."

Kuntay is certain that the resolution would not pass. He said the
close 23-22 vote was a victory for Turkey.

But according to him, this would not have much of an impact on
U.S.-Turkey relations: the House of Representatives has already passed
a resolution in 1974 recognizing the genocide and in 1981 former U.S.
President Ronald Reagan used the word "genocide" in a speech.

"Relations might not be as they were before, but that too will settle
into a routine," Kuntay added.

MEDIA FUELLING FLAMES

Turkdogan, Aktar and Kuntay agree that this affair has been blown out
of proportion by the media, which has been skewing information. Kuntay
said the media has been presenting the issue as if the House has
already accepted genocide, when it is just a sub-committee passing a
non-binding resolution similar to previous ones shot down by the
administration.

As for Turkey’s ambassador to Washington Namik Tan being recalled to
Ankara for consultation Thursday night, Turkey also took similar
action in 2007 House vote, but soon its then ambassador Nabi Sensoy
returned back to duty.

Yet Kuntay admits the media plays a great role in how the public
perceive this, and Aktar said "Turkey already sees this as Americans
having accepted the Armenian genocide, and that this amounted to a
public diplomacy disaster."