Genocide: The Hundred Year Old Atrocity Between Turkey and Armenia

Here is what I said about it three years ago:

With all the problems that we have in the Middle East, the last thing we need is Congress to stir up something that happened in 1915. It happened between Armenia and Turkey. It happened almost one hundred years ago and is no better or worse than thousands of other things that have happened on the sorry side of human history. It is the usual story of tribal hatred and the consequences. It was never American business. What is American business is the hornets nest that was just showing signs of settling down in Iraq and the area...

Genocide is part of every chapter of human history. It would be easier to list those those that did not do it, than those that did.

It is happening today in Africa and no one in Congress is seriously suggesting that the US should do anything meaningful about it.

The timing by The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee is foolish.

China and Russia are back-pedalling on sanctions against Iran. Serious sanctions without support from Turkey will be meaningless. We really are ruled by dopes.

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US labels Turkish killing 'genocide'

Turkey has recalled their ambassador to Washington after a US congress panel voted to label the World War One-era killing of Armenians as genocide.

Published: 9:28PM GMT 04 Mar 2010
Telegraph

Prime Minister Recep Erdogan said he was seriously concerned that the resolution would harm ties between the US and Turkey, and the ambassador was being recalled for consultations.

The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee voted to label as "genocide" the massacre of Armenians by Turkish forces, despite pressure from the Obama administration and Turkey to drop the matter.

But it was unclear whether the measure will get a floor vote.

It calls on President Barack Obama to ensure US policy formally refers to the massacre as genocide, putting him in a tight spot.

On the one side is Nato ally Turkey, which rejects calling the events genocide.

On the other side is an important US Armenian-American constituency and their backers in Congress ahead of congressional elections in November.

Turkey had warned its ties with the United States would be damaged and Ankara's efforts to normalise relations with Armenia could be harmed if the resolution were approved.

"We highly appreciate the decision," Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said.

"This is further proof of the devotion of the American people to universal human values and is an important step towards the prevention of crimes against humanity."

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telephoned House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, a fellow Democrat, on Wednesday to argue the measure could harm efforts to normalise Turkish-Armenian relations, the White House said.

Turkey and Armenia signed a protocol last year to normalise relations but it has yet to pass through the parliament of either country.

Obama called Turkish President Abdullah Gul on Wednesday to urge quick ratification, the White House said.
Despite Clinton's appeal, Berman went ahead with a committee debate and a vote.

He said Turkey was a "vital" ally but "nothing justifies Turkey's turning a blind eye to the reality of the Armenian genocide."

Muslim Turkey accepts that many Christian Armenians were killed by Ottoman forces but denies that up to 1.5 million died and that it amounted to genocide – a term employed by many Western historians and some foreign parliaments.

Congressional opponents expressed concern about harming ties with Turkey, whose help the United States needs to solve confrontations from Iraq to Iran and Afghanistan.

"Iran is our friend"

So it goes in Iran. They Iranians appear to have supporters in Russia, China and Turkey. Turkey is turning against Israel. You don't have to be weatherman to see which way the wind blows.

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'Iran is our friend,' says Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan

• We have no difficulty with Ahmadinejad – Erdogan
• Warning to Europe not to ignore Turkey's strengths
The Guardian

With its stunning vistas and former Ottoman palaces, the banks of the Bosphorus – the strategic waterway that cuts Istanbul in half and divides Europe from Asia – may be the perfect place to distinguish friend from foe and establish where your country's interests lie.

And sitting in his grandiose headquarters beside the strait, long the symbol of Turkey's supposed role as bridge between east and west, Recep Tayyip Erdogan had little doubt about who was a friend and who wasn't.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's radical president whose fiery rhetoric has made him a bête noire of the west? "There is no doubt he is our friend," said Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister for the last six years. "As a friend so far we have very good relations and have had no difficulty at all."

What about Nicolas Sarkozy, president of France, who has led European opposition to Turkey's bid to join the EU and, coincidentally, adopted a belligerent tone towards Iran's nuclear programme? Not a friend?

"Among leaders in Europe there are those who have prejudices against Turkey, like France and Germany. Previously under Mr Chirac, we had excellent relations [with France] and he was very positive towards Turkey. But during the time of Mr Sarkozy, this is not the case. It is an unfair attitude. The European Union is violating its own rules.

"Being in the European Union we would be building bridges between the 1.5bn people of Muslim world to the non-Muslim world. They have to see this. If they ignore it, it brings weakness to the EU."

Friendly towards a religious theocratic Iran, covetous and increasingly resentful of a secular but maddeningly dismissive Europe: it seems the perfect summary of Turkey's east-west dichotomy.

Erdogan's partiality towards Ahmadinejad may surprise some in the west who see Turkey as a western-oriented democracy firmly grounded inside Nato. It has been a member of the alliance since 1952. It will be less surprising to Erdogan's secular domestic critics, who believe the prime minister's heart lies in the east and have long suspected his Islamist-rooted Justice and Development party (AKP) government of plotting to transform Turkey into a religious state resembling Iran.

Erdogan vigorously denies the latter charge, but to his critics he and Ahmadinejad are birds of a feather: devout religious conservatives from humble backgrounds who court popular support by talking the language of the street. After Ahmadinejad's disputed presidential election in June, Erdogan and his ally, the Turkish president, Abdullah Gul, were among the first foreign leaders to make congratulatory phone calls, ignoring the mass demonstrations and concerns of western leaders over the result's legitimacy.

Talking to the Guardian, Erdogan called the move a "necessity of bilateral relations". "Mr Ahmadinejad was declared to be the winner, not officially, but with a large vote difference, and since he is someone we have met before, we called to congratulate him," he said.

"Later it was officially declared that he was elected, he got a vote of confidence and we pay special attention to something like this. It is a basic principle of our foreign policy."

The gesture will be remembered when Erdogan arrives in Tehran this week for talks with Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, that will focus on commercial ties, including Turkey's need for Iranian natural gas. Ahmadinejad has voiced his admiration for Erdogan, praising Turkey's recent decision to ban Israel from a planned Nato manoeuvre in protest at last winter's bombardment of Gaza.

Since the election, Iran has witnessed a fierce crackdown on opposition figures that has resulted in activists, students and journalists being imprisoned and publicly tried. Detainees have died in prison, and there have been allegations of torture and rape. Some of those alleging mistreatment have sought refuge in Turkey.

But Erdogan said he would not raise the post-election crackdown with his hosts, saying it would represent "interference" in Iranian domestic affairs.

He poured cold water on western accusations that Iran is seeking a nuclear weapon, saying: "Iran does not accept it is building a weapon. They are working on nuclear power for the purposes of energy only."

Erdogan has overseen a dramatic improvement in the previously frigid relations between Turkey and Iran, which was viewed with suspicion by the pro-secularist high command of the powerful Turkish military. Trade between the two countries last year was worth an estimated £5.5bn as Iran has developed into a major market for Turkish exports.

Erdogan's views will interest US foreign policy makers, who have long seen his AKP government as a model of a pro-western "moderate Islam" that could be adopted in other Muslim countries. They will also find an audience with President Barack Obama, who signalled Turkey's strategic importance in a visit last April and has invited the prime minister to visit Washington. They are unlikely to impress Israel, which has warned that Erdogan's criticisms risk harming Turkey's relations with the US.

Erdogan dismissed the notion, saying: "I don't think there is any possibility of that. America's policy in this region is not dictated by Israel."

He insisted that the Turkey-Israel strategic alliance – which some AKP insiders have said privately is over – remains alive but chided the Israeli foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who he said had threatened to use nuclear weapons against Gaza.

If There is Doubt About the PKK. Look at Their Flag.

I am often detecting sympathy for the Kurds as if they are a box of chocolates in the Middle East. The sympathy seems to extend to the PKK and against the Turks. The PKK is often referred to only as the Kurdish Workers Party. It is in fact the "Partiya Komunistê Kurdistan." Need I say more?

That leads me to the terribly irresponsible act of the House of Representatives under Nancy Pelosi in the condemning of Turkey over treatment of the Armenians. Folks, the woman is no Mensa candidate. She is going to get Americans killed with her nonsense.

Today, Pelosi told ABC News,"I said if it passed the committee that we would bring it to the floor." This act in itself is reprehensible. Something that happened in 1915 is something that needs to be sorted out by historians and not by a bunch of historical illiterates in the US House of Representatives.

The consequences to US interests and policies, in and around Iraq, over this stupidity will be significant. The Democratic leadership in the House needs to be called on it. There are more people in US prisons than there are Armenians in the US and yet the vote counters in Congress, will put their interests ahead of US interests. This is not good.

The Idiots Who Rule Us

Lantos offering a helpful hand

With all the problems that we have in the Middle East, the last thing we need is Congress to stir up something that happened in 1915. It happened between Armenia and Turkey. It happened almost one hundred years ago and is no better or worse than thousands of other things that have happened on the sorry side of human history. It is the usual story of tribal hatred and the consequences. It was never American business. What is American business is the hornets nest that was just showing signs of settling down in Iraq and the area. Twenty seven of the cranial rectally challenged members of the US Congress decided the timing was perfect to interject their wisdom into the long dispute between Armenia and Turkey. I doubt more than six of them could find Armenia and Turkey on the map but never mind they followed Tom Lantos, the pious, into this stupid charade.

Congress rejects Bush's plea on Armenian killings


Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Thursday October 11, 2007
The Guardian

Congress rejected a plea by the Bush administration yesterday over a resolution officially recognising as genocide the deportation and massacre of Armenians in the last days of the Ottoman empire.
George Bush warned of the negative repercussions should Congress use the word genocide to describe the killing of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians and their exile.

"This resolution is not the right response to these historic mass killings, and its passage would do great harm to our relations with a key ally in Nato and in the global war on terror," Mr Bush said.


But hours later the House foreign affairs committee voted by 27 to 21 in favour of the resolution. The measure now goes to the full House for a vote.
Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, had warned the resolution could set back Middle East peace prospects. Its passage could also put US soldiers at risk in Iraq, Robert Gates, the secretary of defence, said, warning that America risked losing important supply routes. About 70% of air cargo for Iraq goes through Turkey.

But the measure has strong support in the Democratic-controlled House, where more than half of members have signed on as co-sponsors, including the speaker, Nancy Pelosi. About half of the Senate has co-sponsored the measure.

The resolution calls on Mr Bush to use the word genocide during the commemoration of the killings each April. Turkey has spent millions on dissuading western governments from labelling the events of 1915-7 a genocide. The Turkish military cancelled defence contracts with France last year when its national assembly voted to make denial of the genocide a crime. Turkey does not deny that many Armenians were killed, but claims the deaths were the result of widespread fighting.