ISRAEL EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER TURKISH-ARMENIAN MASSACRE DISPUTE
International Herald Tribune, France
The Associated Press
Oct 11 2007
JERUSALEM: Israel on Thursday expressed concern over the dispute over
the World War I killing of more than 1 million Armenians by Ottoman
Turks but tried to deflect pressure from Turkey to take its side.
During his visit to Israel this week, Turkish Foreign Minister Ali
Babacan pressed Israel to use its influence in Washington to help
kill a Congressional effort to label the mass killing as genocide.
Turkey has been resisting such efforts for decades.
In media interviews, Babacan warned that Turkey’s relations with
Israel and the United States could suffer if the genocide resolution
is approved. U.S. President George W. Bush has called on Congress to
defeat it, pointing to the importance of Turkey as an ally.
Armenians say more than 1.5 million people were killed from 1915-17
in a systematic genocide of Armenians waged during the Ottoman Empire
before the birth of modern Turkey in 1923.
The Turks refuse to call it genocide, saying the Armenians were the
victims of widespread chaos and political upheaval as the 600-year-old
empire collapsed – not genocide.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev confirmed the issue
came up during talks between Babacan and Israeli Foreign Minister
Tzipi Livni.
"We take the Turkish concerns very seriously. We have an excellent
relationship with Turkey," Regev said Thursday.
He declined to discuss Israel’s response or say whether Israel
would ask its allies in Washington to intervene. In recent months
the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish group known for fighting
anti-Semitism, changed its policy and declared the killing of the
Armenians "tantamount to genocide," provoking Turkish wrath.
The debate in Washington over the World I massacre of Armenians has
put Israel in an uncomfortable position. Turkey is a key Israeli ally
and one of its few friends in the Muslim world. At the same time,
Israel was built in the aftermath of the Nazi Holocaust, and genocide
is an extremely sensitive topic.
Alon Liel, a former director of Israel’s foreign ministry and expert
in Israel-Turkey relations, said the U.S. legislation could ultimately
hurt ties between the two countries.
"We tried all these years not to get into it," he said. But because of
the ADL’s new position, "Turkey will blame the Jewish organizations,
and then this could bounce back to us."
Israel has acknowledged that massacres were perpetrated against
the Armenians and expressed sympathy for their suffering. But the
government has stopped short of calling it genocide.
Regev said Thursday "there is no change" in Israel’s policy.
Earlier this year, the parliament shelved a proposal for a discussion
on the Armenian genocide at the request of Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert. At the time, Livni expressed concern the issue could
destabilize ties with Turkey.
"As Jews and Israelis, we have special sympathy and a moral obligation
to commemorate the massacres that were perpetrated against the
Armenians in the last years of Ottoman rule," said a statement from
Livni at the time, hoping "both sides will reach an open dialogue
that will enable them to heal the wounds that have been left open."
0/11/africa/ME-GEN-Israel-Turkey.php