SEEING CHEAP VOTES IN AN ARMENIAN ‘GENOCIDE’
by Donald Kirk
South China Morning Post
October 22, 2007 Monday
Hong Kong
Turkish sensitivities regarding affronts to the country’s name,
policies and history are legendary. Some years ago in Tokyo, the
Turkish ambassador lodged a formal protest with the Japanese Foreign
Ministry after a mix-up with a taxi driver. When ordered to take
him to the Turkish embassy, the cabbie took him instead to a toruko,
which in Japanese means a Turkish bath – a euphemism for a brothel.
The protest was enough for Japanese authorities to get Turkish baths
in Japan to call themselves "soaplands", pronounced "so-poo-lan-doh",
which sounds a lot closer to what’s going on inside.
Now the Turkish government is infuriated on a much higher level. This
month, the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee
approved a bill denouncing the slaughter and expulsion of Armenians 90
years ago as "genocide". Armenians put the death toll in the order
of at least 1.5 million. Turkey says 300,000 died, most of them
in battle, in freezing weather or from starvation and disease. The
Democrat-dominated committee, sending the bill for a vote by the full
House, has embarrassed the US government. It needs bases in Turkey
to support its operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and sees Turkey
as a stable Nato ally.
Without minimising the atrocities that occurred, the question is what
is an American legislative body doing passing judgment on a tragedy
and a conflict that happened nearly a century ago that had nothing
to do with the United States?
The claims of members of the House committee that they cannot gloss
over the horrors of the massacre represent the last word in political
hypocrisy. All that is on their minds is that many, if not most,
Armenians are orthodox Christians whereas the Turks are Muslims; the
political brains on the committee see votes in righteously defending
Christians while offending Muslims.
House Democrats have no qualms about undermining the policies of the
Bush government. Nor do they seem concerned about Turkey’s problems
with a restive Kurdish minority, which is in close contact with Kurds
in northeastern Iraq.
If the House committee is so eager to immerse itself in an ancient
conflict, why does it not show similar concern about North Korea?
Three years ago, the US Congress passed the North Korean Human Rights
Act after a great deal of opposition from critics, who believed it
would anger North Korea in the midst of the ongoing nuclear weapons
crisis. Since the passage of that act, however, the US has done little
to turn it into an effective instrument for combating abuses in North
Korea. Although options appear limited, Washington could begin by
raising the human rights issue, assisting refugees and linking aid
to the North to improved human rights conditions.
US policy today calls for dropping references to "human rights" from
all contacts with North Korea. The term is so offensive to Pyongyang
that US negotiators fear the North Koreans would walk out of talks
on nuclear weapons the moment they heard it.
Members of the US House committee were brave enough to join in
condemning Turkey for what happened 90 years ago. Surely they should
have the courage to go after North Korea for more than half a century
of persecution in which millions have been killed, died of disease
or starvation or have frozen to death – the same fates that befell
the Armenians in Turkey.
It’s unlikely, however, that the committee will display such courage.
Perhaps Democrats are waiting for time to pass before addressing
the lessons of history. Maybe in 50 years or so, Congress will look
back on the suffering of North Koreans and pass another righteous
resolution. By that time, so many Koreans will have fled to the US
that opportunistic members of Congress will salivate over the votes
they will get from a bold resolution condemning Pyongyang.
Donald Kirk is the author of two books and numerous articles on Korea
for newspapers, magazines and journals