Israel and Ukraine new bother for Turkey?
Repentance of even hundreds of people has nothing to do with the
remaining 70 million for whom Armenia and the Armenians are enemy
number one.

No matter how eagerly Turkey hopes that after April 24 it’ll be
possible to forget about the Armenian Genocide for at least a year, it
never happens. This time the troublemakers were Israel and Ukraine.
But for one nuisance, it would have been reasonable: both of these
countries seem to be allies and partners of Turkey and Azerbaijan.

May 1, 2010
PanARMENIAN.Net –

With regard to the Knesset, the probability of discussing a resolution
on the Armenian Genocide is almost vanishing. And it’s not so much the
desire to do a bad turn to Turkey, but the fact that for the Jews
there exists only the Holocaust. All other genocides are simply
`tragic events’. There are several reasons for such racism, but the
most important is that Israel is reluctant to give the `burden of
unhappy people’ to anyone, since it gives certain preferences in the
form of compensations. Compensations, by the way, are quite
significant – Germany paid the Holocaust survivors about 1 billion
Euros. According to some Armenian experts, Turkey owes Armenia $ 41
billion, so apart from the moral aspect there is also the purely
financial side which under the current crisis is becoming more and
more pressing. The reality is that the Knesset will not recognize the
Armenian Genocide, and it is unquestionable. The issue will not even
go so far as establishment of a relevant commission, but even if it
does, the issue will be carried away. So the Turks and Azerbaijanis
can sleep peacefully. However, the proverb `Never say never’ is
applicable in politics. Conscience may suddenly arise in the Israeli
MPs and they may unexpectedly decide that other peoples have been
treated no less brutally than the Jews. However, recognition by Israel
is not even a matter of tomorrow. If the Armenian community were
bigger and stronger in Israel, there could be more hope on that. But
here another question arises: should we be hoping for recognition of
the Armenian Genocide by the Jews, if the Armenian parliament has not
recognized the Holocaust? Somehow it seems that had we done it,
Jerusalem would take some more radical steps. But what can’t be cured
must be endured.

Things are different with Ukraine, especially since Kiev has a new
president who will pursue a policy diametrically opposed to the
Yushchenko Administration. Stripping of Stepan Bandera of his title,
extension of the lease for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, new agreement on
gas prices show that Viktor Yanukovych is determined to pursue a
pro-Moscow policy, at the same time not overlooking the interests of
Ukraine. Ukraine has quite a big and strong Armenian community which
does its best for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. In this
case, chances for the Armenians are much greater. And if Kiev also
decides on leaving the GUAM (which seems quite realistic), then she
will no longer have to look back at her pretty unreliable partners,
Mikhail Saakashvili and Ilham Aliyev.

As for the Turkish side, it will continue to bang that the issue of
the Armenian Genocide is the business of historians and not that of
parliaments. But Ankara’s position is understandable: if the decision
has force of law, you can go to arbitration with it. And this is what
Turkey fears most, keeping in mind the tribunal of 1919, when Talaat
and his associates were sentenced to death. In this regard, one-time
actions of some of the Turkish intellectuals on April 24 cannot cause
anything but sympathy from the Armenian side. Repentance of even
hundreds of people has nothing to do with the remaining 70 million for
whom Armenia and the Armenians are enemy number one. And until then
the mantra `Genocide is the business of historians’ will be voiced by
a variety of people.

Karine Ter-Sahakyan / PanARMENIAN News