Israel braces as US-Turkey crisis erupts
HILARY LEILA KRIEGER and HERB KEINON, THE JERUSALEM POST
Oct. 11, 2007
Turkey recalled its ambassador to the US Thursday as already-strained
relations frayed further following a congressional committee vote
recognizing the Armenian genocide.
The move could be indicative of further Turkish steps away from the US
and have a ripple effect on Turkish-Israeli relations. Both the US and
Israel view the secular Islamic state as a crucial Middle East ally
and strategic bulwark in their fight against radical forces in the
region.
Despite sharp objections from US President George W. Bush and other
administration members, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed the
resolution by a 27-21 vote Wednesday. The non-binding resolution,
which refers to massacres of Armenians by Turks during the break-up of
the Ottoman Empire as "genocide," is expected to pass when considered
by the full House later this term.
Bush has warned that the resolution "would do great harm to our
relations with a key ally in NATO and in the global war on terror."
Government spokesmen were quick to condemn the committee vote, but
that did not keep Turkey from recalling its ambassador for
consultations.
Turkey, already showing growing anti-Americanism on its streets, had
warned it could reconsider its support for American war efforts, such
as allowing key supplies to travel through its territory, should the
genocide resolution pass.
Ahead of the vote, Turkey had urged Israel to use its influence in
Washington to keep the resolution shelved.
Turkish officials said that in recent days, Israel officials had
contacted key US Congressional leaders and discussed both Israel’s
position on the issue – which is that an independent historical
commission should be set up to evaluate the matter – and the possible
impact of the legislation on Turkish-Israeli ties.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, who was in Israel earlier this
week, told The Jerusalem Post in an interview on Monday that not only
ties with the US, but also those with Israel, would suffer if the
resolution passed.
Israeli officials said that concerns of a crisis in Israeli-Turkish
relations over the issue were overblown, and that countries with
relations in a crisis did not host or invite each other’s leaders.
When Babacan met President Shimon Peres on Sunday, he extended an
invitation to Peres from Turkish President Abdullah Gul to visit
Turkey.
"This is an internal US issue," one official said. "Our ties with
Turkey are very strong. There is no reason why this should change
anything."
Still, during his visit, Babacan said, "All of a sudden the perception
in Turkey right now is that the Jewish people – or the Jewish
organizations, let’s say – and the Armenian diaspora, the Armenian
lobbies, are now hand-in-hand trying to defame Turkey, and trying to
condemn Turkey and the Turkish people. This is the unfortunate
perception right now in Turkey. So if something goes wrong in
Washington, DC, it inevitably will have some influence on relations
between Turkey and the US, plus the relations between Turkey and
Israel, as well."
His comments followed the controversy this August when the
Anti-Defamation League, under pressure from Armenian groups in the
Boston area, issued a statement declaring the WWI-era massacres a
"genocide," though it didn’t back the House resolution.
Alon Liel, a former director of Israel’s foreign ministry and an
expert in Israel-Turkey relations, said the US legislation could
ultimately hurt ties between the US and Israel.
"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."
Many prominent Jewish organizations have cultivated close
relationships with Turkey and used their lobbying prowess to push
Turkey’s position on Capitol Hill. Yet these groups have come under
increasing criticism from Armenian groups for not recognizing the
Armenian genocide despite emphasizing Holocaust remembrance.
In contrast to past years, when many Jewish organizations lobbied
against similar Armenian genocide resolutions, most Jewish groups
avoided taking a stance on the issue.
According to one Jewish leader, this was the result "of the growing
Armenian pressure on the Jewish community." He said the decision of
American Jewish organizations not to take a stance would "absolutely"
affect the relationship these groups had with Turkey and could spill
over into the Turkish-Israeli relationship.
"It’s going to be highlighted in the Turkish press, and the
anti-Semitic press," he said. "You have a Turkish government that is
looking to go East rather than West, and this is going to help them go
East."
But another Jewish leader said the groups’ stance on the Armenian
genocide resolution shouldn’t have an affect on the relationship with
Turkey.
The matter, he said, was not a Jewish issue: "We are non-combatants in
this matter."
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California), who authored the resolution, defended
it despite the flap it has caused in Turkish-US relations.
"The United States has a compelling historical and moral reason to
recognize the Armenian Genocide, which cost a million and a half
people their lives," Schiff said. "But we also have a powerful
contemporary reason as well — how
can we take effective action against the genocide in Darfur if we lack
the will to condemn genocide whenever and wherever it occurs?"
On Wednesday, the day the US panel voted in favor of the resolution,
the Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement praising Turkey’s tiny
Jewish community for working against the resolution.
"The leaders, businessmen and associations of the Jewish community in
Turkey, being an integral part of our society, from the outset have
denied the unjust and erroneous content of the draft resolution before
the US Congress," the spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry said
in a statement.
The statement continued: "They have also exerted great effort to
prevent this draft resolution from being brought before the Congress,
through meetings with the relevant people abroad and publishing
letters and declarations."
Referring to the Anti-Defamation League’s statement in August that
reversed a long-standing policy and said the WWI massacres were
tantamount to genocide, the Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman said,
"The Turkish Jewish community has also strongly denied the declaration
made by an American Jewish organization. Finally, the Turkish Jewish
community has recently published a statement in the American press
against the draft resolution. We highly appreciate this act as well."
Turkey’s Jewish community took out an advertisement in The Washington
Post on Wednesday, saying that what happened to the Armenians during
World War I "was a terrible tragedy."
"But," the advertisement read, "eminent historians do not agree as to
whether the term ‘genocide’ is the appropriate description of that
tragedy. More fundamentally, we believe this issue should be decided
first and foremost on the basis of evidence adduced by historians, not
on the basis of judgments by parliamentarians or congressmen, who
naturally (and understandably) may be influenced by concerns other
than historical facts. We cannot help but note that the world
recognizes the Holocaust because of the overwhelming evidence, not
because of the declarations of parliaments."
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