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Armenia, Turkey, And The Candidates - Of the Art of Triangulating on Genocide
The following piece was produced as part of Huffington Post's OffTheBus project.
Turkey is threatening to invade Iraq and cut commercial ties with the United States in retaliation of the House Foreign Affairs Committee passing a resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide, but don't count on the presidential candidates to take a strong stand on the issue.
House Resolution 106 is only the latest in a long series of congressional attempts to acknowledge the genocide of 1915, which is to this day denied by Turkey. Turkey has launched an all-out effort against the resolution, enlisting the help of many former politicians turned lobbyists - especially former Rep. Dick Gephardt, a big advocate of similar resolutions in the 1990s but who now has become a the leader of the Turkish lobby - and threatening to strike back if the bill is approved by Congress.
Proving the efficiency of this multi-million blackmail campaign that also included full page ads in the Washington Post and aggressive mailings to congressmen, many representatives stunningly reversed course in the past few weeks. Washington Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott, originally one of the bill's co-sponsors, flip-flopped and was quoted by the Seattle Times saying that there is no evidence of a genocide. "The issue in large measure is between the Armenian Christians and the Muslim Turks," he said. "We are being asked to pick a winner."
But this past Wednesday, enough representatives stood their ground for H.R. 106 to pass the House Foreign Affairs Committee. It was a close vote, though: 27 to 21, with most votes in favor coming from Democrats. Leadership is vowing to submit the bill to a full House vote by mid-November - and a similar resolution has been introduced in the Senate and has already attracted thirty-two co-sponsors.
This would force all the presidential candidates who are in the House and the Senate to record a public vote on the issue. With Armenian-American voters politically powerful in California, Michigan, and New Jersey - all states that are at the forefront of the primary and the general election battle, the candidates will surely be careful to not alienate a key constituency.
But a survey of the presidential field - and quick phone calls to the congressional offices of all of those sitting on Capitol Hill - shows that candidates are remarkably unengaged on this potentially explosive issue. The only aide to have a precise answer to my question was Colorado Representative Tom Tancredo.
Tancredo is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and he voted "nay" last Wednesday. Asked for an explanation, his aide told me, "The current government is not responsible for what happened a hundred years ago, pretty much." Then why was he originally a co-sponsor of the bill? The House database indicates that Tancredo jumped on board on April 19th - and suddenly changed his mind on June 27th. Did he have a sudden revelation about historical responsibility during those two months?
At least Tancredo has an official statement about the matter. Ron Paul, also a member of the committee, did not take part in the vote, and his office had nothing to tell me about his stance on H. R. 106.
The two other House members running for president - Republican Duncan Hunter and Democrat Dennis Kucinich - are both co-sponsors of the resolution. But that apparently does not mean anything, as Jim McDermott is still on the list. Asked whether the congressmen stood by their commitments, neither of their offices could provide me with an answer. Kucinich's aide said they "could not comment on the matter" of a future vote, and Hunter's was not aware of anything relating to H. R. 106. It was rather surprising to find that they could not even respond that co-sponsoring a bill was a measure of support and indicate that their future vote would be in favor.
In the Senate, three of the presidential candidates are co-sponsoring the equivalent senatorial bill: Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, and Sam Brownback (24 out of 32 of the co-sponsors are Democrats). But calls to their Senate offices also provided me very little information as to whether these three would stay committed to the bill and whether they would take active measures to push for it - which is unfortunately as telling as if they had given me a precise answer.
I obtained a similar result with the other senatorial offices, but at least past statements from the candidates can give us an idea of where they stand on the issue. Joe Biden, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, and thus the senator who would have to push this measure through, has supported similar bills in the past. In fact, he co-sponsored Senate Resolution 320 in 2006 in the 109th Congress. He also released a statement this past April 24th, the day of remembrance of the Armenian Genocide. John McCain, on the other hand, has explicitly rejected use of word genocide - consistently referring to 1915 as "massacres" - and has voted against similar bills in the past.
And then there is Barack Obama, who seems guilty of massive triangulation. He has repeatedly acknowledged that what took place was a genocide and accused the Turkish government of denial, most famously at a videotaped conference on April 12th. But asked whether this means he would vote in favor of a recognition resolution, Obama stalled: "I think the fact that I am on the Foreign Affairs Committee means that we maybe more sensible to some of the internal dynamics diplomatically around the issue."
One thing that is too certain, unfortunately, is that whoever the next president is will oppose any attempt to recognize the genocide. Hillary Clinton might be supporting the resolution now, but her husband's Administration was the biggest obstacle to the resolution's late 1990s version. And George Bush's reversal shows how seriously the executive branch takes the Turkish threats.
In 2000, Governor Bush wrote a public letter pledging to finally bring the US to full recognition of what happened in 1915. "The Armenians were subjected to a genocidal campaign that defies comprehension and commands all decent people to remember and acknowledge the facts and lessons of an awful crime in a century of bloody crimes against humanity," he wrote. "If elected President, I would ensure that our nation properly recognizes the tragic suffering of the Armenian people."
Last week, President Bush was reduced to begging Congress to reject H.R. 106. "This resolution is not the right response to these historic mass killings," he argued, avoiding the G-word just as he has in the past seven years. But with Turkey's stunning blackmail over a merely symbolic bill extending as far as threatening to invade northern Iraq, it is time for Congress to call their bluff.
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Nancy Pelosi wasn't elected to handle issues in Turkey and Armenia.
We are not electing anyone to handle issues in Turkey and Armenia.
The priorities of our politicians are American issues.
Nancy Pelosi has blood on her hands. If Turkey is no longer a staging area and supply route for our troops, how many soldiers die because of the delays? Party over country everytime. She's the ultimate hypocrite. None of her financial interests use union labor. She'd rather put up country club resorts than actually build affordable housing for the poor as she claims to support. It's okay to be a capitalist, it's not okay to lie that you're not one. Especially a capitalist PIG.....
What a crock of shit, GenericBlogger...especially the last line:
"The priorities of our politicians are American issues."
And how embarrassing that our nation - not too long ago considered a super power - is now being led by the nose by a third world country like Turkey.
That's what your American politicians did to our proud nation...enabled a durg-enduced incompetent like George Bush to bring us to this time and place in history.
A third-world country? You need to get out more. And also, Turkey is the country that asks, "How high" when the US says, "jump!" Not the other way around.
pets4me,
Thank you for your "eloquent" feedback.
We are still a super power and we are not led by the nose by Turkey. Part of being a super power is acknowledging the rights and sovereignty of our allies and other countries. We are not perfect at this. We have upset enough countries, no need to upset one more.
According to the World Bank, Turkey is 18th among 181 countries in 2006 in terms of GDP. That's hardly third world status.
I don't know what you mean by "your American politicians did to our proud nation" I don't own any politicians and I don't favor Dubya or his administration.
if this country gives in to turkey...just because that nation... occaisionly does america favors... and allows that nation to not take responsibility...for carrying out genocidal pograms against the armenian people...then america loses its last teeny bit of moral authority.at this very moment...the turks are carrying out the same genocidal pograms against the kurds...that they carryed out against the armenians.the japanese are no better.although japanese soldiers were notorious rapists....the japanese while demanding the right to try and incarcerate GI s stationed in japan for rape WHO ARE THEN RAPED REPEATEDLY BY JAPANESE GUARDS)...has never and will not admit to or apologize to thousands of korean women they raped.the atrocity of the rape of nanking...was literally that...the rape of nanking. what is wrong with these people?
why is this a u.s. problem? shouldn't the un look at this? i thought we aren't supposed to try to save the world; that's how we keep stepping in so many piles of shit.
WELL SAID !
Especially since these are the same people who always say, "let the UN do it, we can't be policeman of the world".
"shouldn't the un look at this?"
Been there, done that. The UN has been calling it genocide for at least 20 years and dozens of other countries have officially declared it as such.
What's the hold-up for the US?
The UN is totally useless. The UN couldn't stop a one horse parade even if the horse was dead.
We cannot deny the fact of the Armenian Genocide on one hand and accept the fact of the Jewish Holocaust. Both were based on the power of the state being used for the extermination of a segment of the population. Forty state governments have already adopted similar legislation, and so should the Federal government. If it does not, then legislation should be adopted to deny recognition of all genocides as frivolous, including the Jewish one.
Perhaps the Turks could read Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee and get a clue.
Genocide is my life's work, preventing future genocides is what I dedicate most of my spare time. The Armenian Genocide occurred in 1918 and in 1895 and the reason why I still hold the regime in Ankara responsible is fourfold: 1) They deny that it even occurred, 2) Ankara still persecutes Armenians and accuses those that work to bridge the ethnic divides in the Anatolian peninsula of being "anti-Turkish" (you can be jailed for making anti-Turkish remarks) and advocates have been murdered as recently as last year 3) Turkey is suppressing the Kurds whose homeland is divided between Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. At some point the Kurds should be given their own state and that means dismembering Turkey. 4) The Turks have occupied (illegally and in defiance of UN resolutions) northern Cyprus since 1974.
We need to hold Turkey accountable to the norms of international law and if Turkey does want to become a member of the EU then it must abide by the norms of Western Civilization.
1) - they don't deny it occured, they just use different language.
2) - Yes it's a bad law, and Ankara is working to change it now. Dink's murder is not Ankara's responsibility.
3) - The West largely created the Kurd's problems, not Turkey. Turkey is not unique in suppressing a militant minority.
4) - Turkey and Greece are both guilty of defying UN resolutions. And for that matter, name 1 country which hasn't defied a UN resolution?
Give Turkey a break - England, France, Germany and Russia were all there during WWI trying to claim the straits for their own and killing Turks in their homeland. Your life's work should not be so black and white. Everybody's guilty.
"1) - they don't deny it occured, they just use different language."
So Hrant Dink was murdered because of a LANGUAGE difference!
"2) - Yes it's a bad law, and Ankara is working to change it now. Dink's murder is not Ankara's responsibility."
We're supposed to be grateful to Ankara for working to change a law so bad that it should never have been enacted in the first place? If Ankara had admitted the truth in the past, I greatly doubt that Dink would have been killed.
"3) - The West largely created the Kurd's problems, not Turkey. Turkey is not unique in suppressing a militant minority."
Scant comfort to Kurdish refugees.
"4) - Turkey and Greece are both guilty of defying UN resolutions. And for that matter, name 1 country which hasn't defied a UN resolution?"
Enforcement of UN resolutions has to start somewhere if there's to be any hope for a better world.
"Give Turkey a break - England, France, Germany and Russia were all there during WWI trying to claim the straits for their own and killing Turks in their homeland. Your life's work should not be so black and white. Everybody's guilty."
Turkey wouldn't give a break to a million innocent Armenians. Does the "everybody's guilty" defence apply to the Holocaust too?
So, condemn the Ottoman Empire and jail
Devletli Necabetli Ertuğrul Osman Efendi Hazretleri.
The Japanese deny they experimented on Chinese peasants and POW's. Matter of fact, there school books have yet to ever mention they bombed Pearl Harbor and invaded China and the Far East. I don't see any of you folks ever holding them accountable. How come?
My problem with this latest Armenian Genocide resolution is TIMING and playing party-partisan politics with something that effects OUR security. The genocide, like you said, happened in 1918 (some folks say started in 1915). I just looked at a calender and we're in 2007. So why now? Oh yeah, we already had one resolution go through on this in 1984 during the Reagan years. So why another? And Turkey is an ally of ours. We have much surveillance and spying technology there. We need Turkey. So why would any politician put there biased agenda ahead of American security?
Why now? Because history is what we make it. If nobody called it a genocide then generations from now - it doesn't exist. There are vested interests who would like nothing more than for the whole history of this genocide to go *poof*.
If nobody had declared the Holocaust a genocide - documented it in writing and in photographs - then a generation from now it would not be part of the historical record. We can sit back out of convenience and allow others to make efforts to erase the record of this atrocity. Or we can add our credibility to the historical record and ensure that it's not distorted. Your call. I guess we should just let it go and not piss off Turkey?
The "now is a bad time" argument is one that has been used for over five decades. It has always been a bad time to recognize the Genocide. For many years it was because Turkey was a necessary ally in the Cold War. Then because Turkey was necessary for the first Gulf War and now because of the Iraq occupation.
Turkey has hardly ever been a good ally - to anyone. During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Turkey closed its borders to American troops. Turkey now wants to send its troops into Iraq to put down the Kurdish population. In what way are they a valuable ally?
Ask their neighbors. Ask the Greeks what they think of the Turks; ask the Armenians; ask the Kurds. So what if they cut off trade with the U.S.? First off, it's probably a bluff - they need us far more than we need them. Secondly, just how valuable can a Genocide denying (if not Genocidal) ally be.
"My problem with this latest Armenian Genocide resolution is TIMING and playing party-partisan politics with something that effects OUR security"
Party-partisan, is that what Bush has taught you. Read his former words,Genocide, and now what is he saying. The more you buy into this cowardly protect us and our security BS the more pathetic it becomes.They killed a million Armenians, when do you think would be a good time to call them on it?
The Dems prove that they are truly ineffective at this point...they can pass a resolution condemning a foreign nation for their behavior 90 PLUS years ago, but they cannot get us out of Iraq, may not overrride the child insurance bill, and continue to let Cheney and Bush go unscathed without impeachment...BRILLIANT!
The Turks do NOT fuck around...they will CRUSH the Kurds, that's all there is to it...and we will lose key bases where supplies and materiels are used for Iraq...although I completely disapprove of the war, cutting off supplies to the troops would be bad, very bad. It also would destabilize Iraq, something it certainly doesn't need.
As usual, Bushco sits on the sidelines, not wanting to get involved. They always seem to sit out matters that pose serious problems and worry about the inconsequential matters (well, when it has to do with oil, of course).
Don't buy the hype that this cuts off supplies for the troops. That's Republican bullshit. Most supplies come in via air cargo which is easily diverted to fly over Kuwait or Jordan. I'm not sure why anyone buys this crap since anyone familiar with a map knows that Iraq is not entirely surrounded by Turkey.
Dems are worried about the Hunt Brothers losing their Kurdish oil deal.
Genocide or not, The US government does not have the moral authority to call out other nations on their bloody past.
Additionally, the word 'genocide' has long long its meaning. Bureaucrats argue over whether a certain tragedy is "genocide" or not and only then will they think about making plans to do something to stop it. MASS KILLING should be a problem in whatever form it takes. The modern Turkish nation acknoweledges that -because it was war after all and the Armenians assisted the Russians killing many Turks in turn.
Finally, even many in the current Armenian government wish the Congress would mind its country's own business as Turkey and Armenia have made real progress lately toward a meaningful reconciliation. This vote would exacerbate nationalist tendancies on both sides and stomp on any progress made so far.
There is, actually, a definition to the word genocide. That some would misapply the label doesn't mean we all stop using the word.
The modern Turkish nation would have you believe that war is hell and...well... people get killed and we had our losses too.
Of course the record shows that this was a planned effort complete with propaganda and laws established to deport anyone deemed a threat to national security and confiscate the property of Armenians.
Armenians understandably took issue and for their protests they were imprisoned in mass camps where they were starved, beaten, raped, and killed.
That doesn't define "collateral damage." It's systematic and planned elimination of a people. In other words - genocide.
Did you criticize Clinton for not getting involved in Rwanda and southern Sudan like your criticizing Bush? I bet you didn't.
Actually it was the Republicans who were always telling Clinton to stay the f*ck out of it - whether it was Somalia, the former Yugoslavia, Haiti or missile strikes on Al Qaeda...
I went to elementary school in Glendale, CA. I estimate that 75% of the population of that city is Armenian. Surrounding cities are also full of them, including Burbank and Hollywood. You know why they are all there? That's where their parents and grandparents ended up when they fled the genocide in their home country.
Pretty much the whole country got up and moved elsewhere, which may have been the point to the former government of Turkey killing them all in the first place.
It's a REALLY BIG DEAL and the whole world acts as though it never happened. I imagine that, to these people, it feels like the government took away all their homes and belongings, forced them to leave the country, and then claimed nothing happened.
It is unfortunate that Turkey feels the need to threaten us if we just assert that this thing that happened, happened. But not doing so is akin to negotiating with terrorists.
Recognizing the genocide is the right thing to do. If you have any doubt of this, go listen to some System of a Down.
SOAD, groove on Armenian rap.
In 100 years Iraqis will be talking about the time
the USA genocided their population.
I think they are doing this allready
Great, great post bobert - Thank You!
Posturing politcs while a valued muslim ally is threatening to blow Iraqi wide open with a humanitarian refugee problem that may destabilize the entire region.
I've come to the conclusion that total war in the middle east is what Israel and the USA are truly shooting for and this resolution proves it. America is doomed to implode from within and it's only a matter of time.
This is a tough one for me...I am 1/2 Armenian, and my fraternal grandparents came to the U.S. at the time of the genocide/diasphora.
Over the centuries, the Turks have proven to be an extremely violent and bellicose culture...
Maybe if there had been some acknowledgement of their perpetration of the Armenian genocide within the 20 or 25 years after it took place, Hitler wouldn't have been able to be so successful exercising the same atrocities against the Jews.
I have always hated bullies, and I believe in not letting them get away with their destructive behavior. But it's easy for me to sit here and say that we should call Turkey's bluff...It's not my ass over in Iraq, nor is it any members of my family's...So, what to do?
I don't know what I think should be done...I guess that in this case I would trust what my candidate for POTUS, JOE BIDEN, feels would be the right and proper thing to do...Whatever it is, it will undoubtedly be thoughtful and WON'T be triangulated or self-serving...
And as for my pick for VP, Bill Richardson, I know that New Mexico honors the Armenian experience by way of an Armenian Memorial in Albuquerque...I would be interested in hearing his views on this subject as well, given his ambassadorial experience...I hope he weighs in.
An important point, here, is that unlike anytime in recent memory, I feel that we have 2 or 3 candidates (and they're NOT HillBamWards), that in a potentially serious political situation, even one with personal overtones, I can feel confident in their judgement...and there's a welcome sense of relief/peace that comes with that...
Experience,Ethics,Energy, ELECTIBILITY... BIDEN/Richardson...Great in '08.
***************ELEVATE EXCELLENCE.*************
Thanks for your words.
Gee, one would think that the US Congress would have more important things to do like ending this stupid war against Iraq. But that takes too much effort, so the worthless US Congress resorts to a futile goodie goodie feel good resolution on ancient history. America's tax dollars at work!
Read a book, or two, or one hundred. Maybe then you'll be able to figure out that the Iraq more is more than just "stupid." Maybe then you'll realize that a first step in preventing Genocide is acknowledging it. And, most importantly, you might realize that ancient doesn't mean before Brittany Spears' first album. Some survivors of the Genocide are still alive; millions more of their children and grandchildren are alive and, to them (and anyone with even a small amount of historical perspective), this is hardly ancient history. Read a book.
It really is unfair to condemn the Turkish nation for a crime it did not commit. The resolution should be amended so that it indicts the people who were responsible for the Armenian massacres. Those people were the so-called "Young Turks," a regime that was disgraced and ultimately overthrown by Kemal Attaturk when he established the modern Turkish Republic.
A resolution that acknowledged that distinction could be accepted and even supported by many Turks.
Read the bill:
"The Armenian Genocide was conceived and carried out by the Ottoman Empire..."
"...will hold personally responsible for these crimes all members of the Ottoman Government, as well as those of their agents who are implicated in such massacre"
It doesn't condemn the current Turkish government. It asks that US government agencies educate staff on this event as part of an overall awareness of the history of genocide.
Anyone getting their panties in a wad over this hasn't really read the bill.
When we talk about genocide we must also talk about the genocide of the native American tribes. We must also talk about the genocide that occurred in Paraguay, Argentina, Chile.
Attaturk was a Genocide Denier. Additionally, the resolution doesn't even mention the modern government of Turkey. I don't believe you have the basic information on this issue.
Yes - let's allow Turkey to blackmail us some more.
A useless gesture by a useless Congress.
Well said
There's plenty of blame to go around for the most-irresponsible, self-defeating and short-sighted congressional foreign policy action of this year.
Start with Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, President George W. Bush and the Turks themselves.
The issue in question is last week's decision by the House Foreign Affairs Committee to approve a non-binding resolution to brand the Ottoman Empire's 1915 mass killing of Armenians as genocide. The measure now moves toward a full House vote. If approved, it will send Turkey, the U.S.'s most-important Muslim ally, into an anti-American frenzy.
The panel's sanction was a triumph of domestic politics over geopolitics. The measure was pushed by a California Democrat from a constituency with a large and well-heeled Armenian-American base, and it was backed by Pelosi. In the view of State Department officials who are picking up the pieces, she is more concerned with representing San Francisco than the national interest.
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