- The politics of morality have long dominated American
rhetoric during elections, and in justifying what to others seem questionable
foreign crusades. Most daunting has been coordinating these moral sentiments
with strategic economic interests. For two decades, the Armenian-American
community has laboured tirelessly to urge the United States Congress to
recognise a tragic -- and much debated -- chapter in Ottoman history. These
efforts have habitually been undermined by the State Department, whose
interests primarily lie in avoiding unnecessary complications in US-Turkish
relations. However, during the past few weeks, Anatolia's grizzly past
has returned to haunt Washington's Capitol Hill, only this time in a way
that may bring results.
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- The tragedy in question dates back to the early 20th
century, when the Ottoman Empire was the sick man of Europe. Nationalist
ideas and irredentist aspirations were rampant among minorities, most notably
the Armenians and the Greeks. The triumvirate, which took control of the
Ottoman government in 1908, launched its Turkification policy in a last-ditch
attempt to coalesce a crumbling empire; but it was also the start of what
many claim was a brutal campaign to obliterate restless minorities. Between
1915 and 1923, some 1.5 million Armenians perished and more than 500,000
were exiled from their homes, according to widely accepted Armenian estimates
disputed by the government of the modern republic of Turkey.
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- These figures contend that before 1914, over two million
Armenians lived in Turkey, but by the end of 1923, the entire population
of Anatolia and western Armenia had been wiped out. Turkish statistics,
on the other hand, suggest the death toll to have been around 300,000 Armenians,
as well as thousands of Turks -- a consequence of dire wartime conditions
and efforts to quell internal unrest. What Turkish officials now dismiss
as mass deportations, the Armenians -- backed by a number of countries,
including Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece and Russia -- recognise as systematic
massacres targeting an entire race; or to put it more succinctly: genocide.
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- Protesters near the US consulate in central Istanbul
demand the closure of Incirlik airbase. Banners read in Turkish "Genocide
bill is hostility against Turkey" and "America, look at your
history."
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- (photo: Reuters)
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- What Turkish officials now dismiss as mass deportations,
the Armenians -- backed by a number of countries including Belgium, Cyprus,
France and Russia -- recognise as genocide
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- Despite intense pressure exerted by a delegation from
the Turkish Parliament and its local lobby team led by former congressmen,
the United States House International Relations Committee voted overwhelmingly
on 3 October to pass the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.398). With
over 145 co-sponsors, the resolution was set to be considered by the full
US House of Representatives as early as 17 October. "This resolution
is intended to help those involved in US foreign policy to better utilise
the American record on the Armenian Genocide to help prevent similar atrocities
again being committed," Aram Hamparian, executive director of the
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), told Al-Ahram Weekly.
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- The Turkish camp begs to differ, vehemently. "I
want to insist on one point: genocide did not happen," stressed Mehmet
Ali Irtemqelik, a Turkish parliamentarian, during the debate. "Inevitably,
if this resolution is adopted, it will be impossible not to have our [US-Turkey]
relationship affected," he added. Soon afterward, Turkey issued a
warning that the Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline running between Turkey and
Iraq, officially closed since Iraq invaded Kuwait 10 years ago, would be
restored to full capacity should the resolution be passed. Turkish Energy
Minister Cumhur Ersumer announced that technical teams had already started
work on the pipeline in anticipation of just such an outcome. There is
talk that a Turkish ambassador may even be sent back to Baghdad for the
first time since the Gulf War. Turkey also warned that it might withdraw
permission for US and British planes to fly patrols over northern Iraq
from airbases on Turkish soil. "Taking the Incirlik airbase under
maintenance offers Turkey an opportunity to send a message to a big state
without cutting the dialogue," said former Premier Tansu Ciller, head
of the opposition True Path party.
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- Officials in Ankara deny that Turkey's manoeuvring vis-¦-vis
Iraq is related to the US draft bill, but at the same time, it is obvious
that it will not please the US. American feathers are being ruffled, with
more and more countries defying the UN sanctions. Turkey says that it has
lost $30 billion in trade because of the sanctions, including $1.5 billion
specifically because of the closed pipeline. Perhaps, then, the controversy
surrounding the pending draft resolution on the alleged Armenian genocide
has merely been made good use of by Turkey. It should be remembered that
the draft bill may not even pass, since it does not have the backing of
President Bill Clinton and will not be debated in the Senate. One consistent
opponent of the resolution, Rep. Dan Burton (Republican-Indiana), argues
vaguely that it would even create difficulties for Armenia if it does pass.
Last week, Turkey stopped issuing tourist visas to Armenians trying to
cross the border between the two countries.
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- "Armenia has offered to establish relations with
Turkey without preconditions. Turkey has rejected these offers by setting
preconditions on the normalisation of relations," said the ANCA's
Hamparian. "Turkey spends millions of dollars each year lobbying to
deny the genocide. It blockades US relief aid to Armenia. And at times
it has threatened to 'teach Armenia the lessons of 1915'," he added.
"The Turkish government has quite inappropriately interfered in the
American political process, using threats of retaliation and attempting
to dictate to US legislators how they should understand their own history,"
said Hamparian. More generally, Microsoft has been threatened with serious
reprisals if it does not amend entries related to "genocide"
and "Armenia" in its new online encyclopaedia, Encarta.
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- The Armenian camp believes it is simply seeking to formalise
what has already been made clear by widely accepted evidence. "When
the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these deportations, they were
merely giving the death warrant to a whole race," wrote Henry Morgenthau,
then US ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. "They understood this well,
and, in their conversations with me, they made no particular attempt to
conceal the fact." The US National Archives contain thousands of pages
documenting the "premeditated extermination of the Armenian people."
It was in part due to American intervention and humanitarian assistance
that the full plan was not carried out. An organisation known as Near East
Relief, chartered by an act of Congress, contributed some $113 million
between 1915 and 1930 to deliver aid to survivors.
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- In modern times, however, the US is Turkey's key NATO
ally and the two countries have maintained strong diplomatic and military
relations since the Cold War. Turkey has benefited from US intelligence-gathering
operations in the Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq. It is also a major
US arms purchaser, but it has recently stated that it may withdraw from
negotiations to buy 145 attack helicopters in a $4.5 billion tender with
a US firm.
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- "Study the past, divine the future" goes an
old adage. Armenians seek to prevent a repeat of a terrible episode in
their history, while Turks are reluctant to tarnish their own. Americans,
for their part, seem unwilling to compromise their strategic interests.
Soon, American decision-makers will have to appraise the value of justice.
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