THE TURKS CAN BE FORGIVEN FOR FEELING WRONGED
By Jeffrey Simpson, [email protected]
The Globe and Mail
October 24, 2007 Wednesday
Canada
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is a grave and serious man,
with much to be grave and serious about.
His country has been attacked by terrorists, aggrieved by a
noisy international lobby, let down by allies and treated badly
by neighbours. No wonder that Mr. Erdogan barely cracked a smile
during a forceful, hour-long presentation Monday night at the storied
Oxford Union.
Police were out in droves, but no protesters showed up from Britain’s
Kurdish or Armenian communities. Instead, the Oxford students listened
intently and responded favourably to Mr. Erdogan. They seemed to
understand, better than some governments, how important Turkey remains.
Turkey has been sorely provoked recently by Kurdish terrorists, who
have launched murderous attacks on Turkish soldiers and civilians
from their redoubts in northern Iraq
These fanatics, whose organization (PKK) has been condemned by every
European country, claim they want Kurdish autonomy within Turkey.
They really want separation of eastern Turkey and likely a union with
the Kurds in northern Iraq. They claim, as terrorists always do, to
speak for the "people," except that in July’s elections Mr. Erdogan’s
party won 53 per cent of the votes in southeast Turkey.
Mr. Erdogan has understandably been under immense pressure from Turks
to respond, and strong pressure from the U.S., Iraq and European
nations to show restraint.
All his government has done so far is secure permission from
parliament to launch attacks across the Iraq border, while trying to
get the Americans, the Iraqis in Baghdad and the de facto independent
government of the Kurdish territory in northern Iraq to stop the
terrorists.
If these attacks don’t stop, there’s no doubt the Turkish military
will cross the border in force, thereby adding another complication
to the Bush administration’s already chaotic predicament in Iraq. The
administration is thus trying what a spokesman called a "full-court
press" to restrain Turkey.
The Bush administration, however, has frittered away previous
goodwill. The Turks are mad at the Americans for a number of reasons,
but especially for the resolution recently adopted by a House of
Representatives committee describing the mass killings of Armenians
in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 with the emotive word "genocide."
Various Western legislatures, including ours, have succumbed
to relentless lobbying by the Armenian diaspora to pass such
resolutions. Eight U.S. secretaries of state, Republican and Democrat,
implored the House committee not to meddle in a historical dispute,
but it paid no attention.
In Canada, the Harper government, in the first flush of its foreign
policy naivete and under the influence of its ethnic-vote chaser, Jason
Kenney, formally recognized this "genocide," thereby compounding the
error of a parliamentary vote of this kind under the Martin government.
Canada wasn’t involved in the Ottoman Empire. It has no national
interest in taking sides, let alone against a NATO partner, in a
92-year-old dispute. We must be careful picking over ethnic disputes
from long ago, given the multiplicity of ethnic conflicts that our
pluralistic society could imported.
The politically inspired Canadian decision infuriated Mr. Erdogan’s
government. It was hailed by the Armenian diaspora that has made the
pursuit of this policy the cause of its collective life. Earlier this
year, Stephen Harper was awarded the Armenian Freedom prize by the
Western region of the U.S. Armenian National Committee. Mr. Harper
couldn’t make the trip to pick up the award in Los Angeles, but
Mr. Kenney did.
The Harper government woke up (a bit) to Turkey’s importance when
the country took in Canadians of Lebanese origin after the Israeli
invasion of south Lebanon. It then said, in a 180-degree turn, that
Canada’s policy would be to urge Turkey and Armenia to study jointly
the events of 1915 – the Turkish position.
Mr. Erdogan reminded British listeners that his government wants
European Union membership, a position Britain supports, though France
and Germany have said Turkey can’t join. And the EU erred by allowing
in Greek Cyprus without insisting the Greek Cypriots accept the United
Nations-sponsored deal endorsed by Turkish Cypriots.
Slapped by the Europeans, let down by the Americans, pursued by the
Armenians and attacked by Kurdish terrorists, Turkey feels justifiably
aggrieved. No wonder the Prime Minister looks so grave and serious.