CONGRESS PUTS HISTORY UP TO VOTE
Minnesota Daily
uts-history-vote
March 7 2010
Reverberations from the Armenian slaughter will shake U.S. relations
with Turkey.
Likely a success of the Feb. 5 international conference at the
University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, the U.S. House
Committee on Foreign Affairs passed a resolution last week condemning
the 1915 Armenian mass killing as "genocide." The bill succeeded by
a narrow margin of 23-22.
The theme of the conference was "The Armenian Genocide within
the Framework of National and International Law," and academics,
researchers and legal and human rights experts traveled from across
the world to share findings and expertise with colleagues.
A similar genocide acknowledgment bill was passed in 2007 under
President George W. Bush but was not signed into law due to political
backlash from Turkey, the successor of the Ottoman Empire held
responsible for the genocide.
Though the resolutions passed last week do not bring any immediate
legal obligation for the United States, its diplomatic and political
consequences have already begun to manifest themselves.
This has been seen as a "difficult" and "painful period" for Turkey,
which immediately called its U.S. Ambassador, Namik Tan, back to
Ankara in diplomatic protest against passage of the resolution.
According to historians, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians died
"amid the chaos and unrest surrounding World War I" following the
"disintegration policy" of the Ottoman Empire, a New York Times
article read last week.
However, Turkey refuses to use the word "genocide" and instead cites
the deaths as an outcome of a civil war. Turkey has been waging a
campaign against any bill in this regard.
To speculate on the effect this bill would have in both the short and
long term, I spoke with Ziya Meral, a doctoral candidate in political
science at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Meral,
originally from Turkey, spoke of a "sense of vindication" for Turkey,
adding that the acknowledgment comes at a heavy price. "At the short
term, the Turkey-U.S. relations are being damaged," Meral wrote in
an e-mail response.
It is true that the United States needs an effective partnership with
Turkey regarding its strategic and military interests.
According to Meral, who presented at the February conference in
Minneapolis, the United States needs close Turkish support for its
exit strategies from Afghanistan and Iraq. The same is also true for
possible U.S. sanctions against what it deems a nuclear-ambitious Iran.
Observers like Meral point out that the "genocide bill" will further
disrupt already volatile Armenian-Turkish relations by giving more
legitimacy to nationalist voices in Turkey.
However, the passing of the bill by the U.S. House committee and
"recognition and acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide" is seen
as a victory for the Armenian "moral issue," says Edmon Marukyan,
an attorney in his home country and a current Humphrey Fellow. He
explains that the "genocide" forced Armenians to spread out all over
the world. The Armenians have been seeking justice for the genocide
"if not on legal sphere," Marukyan said, "on a moral one."
According to Dr. Ellen Kennedy, professor and interim director of
the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of
Minnesota, for the 3 million people in Armenia and the 8 million
Armenians living in other countries, the recent resolution represents
a welcome acknowledgment of a tragedy that has become almost
invisible. She referred to Hitler saying on the eve of efforts to
exterminate Europe’s Jews, "Who speaks today of the annihilation of
the Armenians?"
In 2006, France’s National Assembly outlawed the denial of the
Armenian genocide. Armenian activists in Europe have also tried to
block Turkey’s pending application for membership in the European
Union based on this issue, says Kennedy.
However, what prompted the U.S. House committee to pass the bill at
this point in time?
Kennedy told me, referring to the Foreign Affairs Committee Chair
Howard Berman, that the United States has a moral obligation to speak
out against the genocide and to prevent it from happening again.
According to Kennedy, who is also the executive director of the
nonprofit advocacy platform World Without Genocide, scholars have
succeeded in labeling the Armenian tragedy "genocide."
The International Association of Genocide has been successful in
patronizing some of the scholars. Even British jurists like Dr.
Geoffrey Robertson categorize the Armenian mass killing as "genocide"
through research and publications.
It is clear that the United States has avoided a position on the issue,
considering consequences from Turkey. But what now?
The Obama administration and the powerful Jewish lobby did not back
the Turkish position, as an English newspaper in Turkey, The Daily
News & Economic Review, reports.
As a senator, Barack Obama supported the previous Armenian resolution.
He was also critical of President George W. Bush for stopping it. Vice
President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have also
reportedly supported similar bills in the past.
However, that does not guarantee that the "genocide bill" would be
approved by a Congress dominated by Democrats. Turkey will once again
work hard to persuade the Obama administration to keep history’s
semantics on its side.