"GENOCIDE" RESOLUTION WOULD "DIE" IN SESSION OF US CONGRESS

news.az
April 20 2010
Azerbaijan

Adil Baguirov News.Az interviews Adil Baguirov, Ph.D., Managing
Director and co-founder US Azeris Network (USAN).

How do you expect the issue of "Armenian genocide" to be settled after
the decision of the Foreign Relations Committee of the US Congress?

It will be the same as last year and the years before – the resolution
would "die" in this session of Congress, and "resurface" in the next
Congress (next year). This trick, courtesy of the Armenian lobby and
its friends at the Armenian Caucus, will keep re-appearing for as
long as Turkey plays on defensive, whilst the Armenian lobby feels
this is the only subject that can energize and mobilize the Armenian
diaspora worldwide.

Considering the fact that the US administration is against the
recognition of the "Armenian genocide" by Congress, is it possible
to say that this issue will not be put for voting in the House of
Representatives?

I think it’s virtually impossible for the resolution to be scheduled
for a vote on the floor of the Congress. Firstly, because there
won’t be enough votes. Secondly, because of the opposition from
the Administration, business circles, some historians, the Turkish
government as well as the Turkish-American and Azerbaijani-American
diasporas. And thirdly, because U.S. Congress has a lot of truly
important legislature to take care of – such as jobs bill, climate
change bill, financial regulations, etc.

Do you think President Barack Obama will call the 1915 events in
the Ottoman Empire as "genocide" in his traditional annual speech on
April 24?

He will not use the English (Latin) word "genocide", but just like
last year, would probably use the Armenian term "Metz yeghern" instead.

Which actions do you expect the Armenian Diaspora to take over the date
of "genocide" and are Turkish and Azerbaijani diaspora organizations
preparing the response actions?

While the Armenian diaspora and lobby will be doing the traditional
demonstrations, saturation of TV, radio and newspaper coverage, as well
as more presentations and speeches at the conferences and seminars,
at the same time they are preparing for the big date – year 2015. For
that year, they are working on a number of book projects and films,
as well as want to open their museum in Washington D.C.

Needless to say that the Turkic-Americans are engaged in defending
the image, honor and record of Turkey and the Turks, and inform the
scholarly as well as wider public about the multitude of facts that
are omitted and not mentioned by the Armenian lobby.

Do you think the normalization of the Turkish-Armenian relations
is possible after the attempts by Armenian lobby to impose the
recognition of "genocide" to the United States? If yes, how far can
this process go?

If such a resolution would ever pass the U.S. Congress, or an American
President is ever to classify the events of 1915, which were equally
tragic for Turks, Kurds, Azeris, and Armenians, just to name a few,
as "genocide", it would lead to short-term and even medium-term
deterioration of relations between U.S. and Turkey, and make any kind
of "normalization" between Armenia and Turkey impossible. Mindful of
that, the U.S. leadership would not allow such a resolution to pass,
or president’s speech to include the word "genocide".

Meanwhile, I do expect people in both Armenia and Turkey to attempt to
improve the relations between these two nations. Of course, Armenia
knows what it can do to quickly improve its relations not just with
Turkey, but also with Azerbaijan, but for some reason is not taking
the right step. Both Azerbaijan and Turkey, as well as all rational
people in U.S., Europe and elsewhere, should urge Armenia and its
people to realize some of the basic facts, ranging from demography
to economy and finance to even history, and urge a more rational
behavior and response.

How do you assess the unity and organization of the Azerbaijani
diaspora in the United States?

It has come a long way – compare the achievements of our diaspora
from 5, 10, or 20 years ago with what it has now – it’s a huge
positive difference. We have become recognized as a factor and actor
of international relations and domestic politics. Just 5 years ago
this was not so. Today, Azerbaijani-Americans have their candidates
running for political office, dozens of articles published in the press
each year, active participation at conferences, seminars and forums,
some 130,000 letters and faxes sent to member of Congress and other
elected officials, over a hundred proclamations, and much more. But
of course, there is still a lot to do and learn. It’s not fair to
expect a relatively new community of 400,000 Azerbaijani-Americans to
come very close in a short time to the level of the 2 million strong
Armenian community that has been in U.S. for over a century. At the
same time, at least politically, the Azerbaijani-Americans have almost
reached the level of the Russian-Americans, and are far more active
than the Georgian, Moldovan/Romanian or any other Turkic community
save the Turkish-Americans.

Does our diaspora take any steps to attain the full elimination of
907 amendment to the Act on support of freedom adopted by the Congress
in 1992?

Of course, and not only Section 907 of the 1992 Freedom Support Act,
but also the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, the issue of so-called military
parity, and the outrageous act of direct aid to the Armenia occupied
Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.