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ARMENIAN INTELLECTUALS, LEADERS REFLECT ON OBAMA'S VISIT TO TURKEY
By Khatchig Mouradian
www.asbarez.com/index.html?showarticle= 41131_4/3/2009_1
Friday, April 3, 2009
On April 5, U.S. President Barack Obama will arrive in Turkey, making
it the first Muslim country he visits after taking office. Analysts
say his trip will aim at strengthening ties with Ankara, and point to
the issue of the Armenian Genocide as possibly the most challenging
for the president to deal with during his talks with Turkish officials.
On several occasions during his campaign for president, Obama had
promised to properly recognize the massacres and deportations of the
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide, thus angering Turkey,
which continues to vehemently deny that there was any genocidal intent
towards the Armenians in the last years of the empire.
Official Ankara spends millions of dollars in its denial campaign,
which lobbies politicians, entices support from journalists, funds
academic denial efforts, suppresses education efforts on the Armenian
Genocide to the general public in North and South America, Europe,
and the Middle East (Israel especially).
For decades, Turkey has been struggling against resolutions in
parliaments around the world recognizing the genocide. Twenty
countries, including Russia, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands,
Canada, and Argentina, have already recognized the Armenian massacres
and deportations as genocide, citing the overwhelming consensus of
historians and genocide scholars on the subject.
The main battlefield for genocide recognition in recent years has been
the United States, where a majority of Members of Congress support
passing a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide. But at least
twice in recent history, voting on such resolutions has been postponed
or put on hold at the last minute.
Armenian intellectuals, scholars, and leaders I interviewed this week
expect Obama to stand firmly behind his convictions during his trip
and to send a clear signal to Turkish officials that while he values
Turkey's friendship, he will acknowledge the Armenian Genocide in
the president's annual statement on Armenian Remembrance Day because
truth and good relations need not be mutually exclusive.
Turkish officials, on the other hand, hope that the recent
rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia can be used as a bargaining
chip to keep Obama from speaking the truth. On numerous occasions
in recent months, top Turkish officials have warned the U.S. that
interfering in discussions between Turkey and Armenia and recognizing
the genocide would be detrimental to the budding relations between
Yerevan and Ankara.
"I hope President Obama will impress upon the Turkish leaders the
importance of facing the dark chapters of their history honestly,
their understanding that the United States can recognize the Armenian
Genocide as a historical fact and still remain good friends and
allies with Turkey, and advise them of the undesirability of making
threatening statements against the U.S.," said Harut Sassounian,
one of the most widely read Armenian columnists and the publisher of
the California Courier.
"Furthermore, since President Ronald Reagan signed a Presidential
Proclamation on the Armenian Genocide in 1981, President Obama should
tell the Turks that his April 24 statement would contain nothing new
or earth-shattering. In keeping with his campaign pledge, he would
be simply repeating what has already been acknowledged by a former
president," Sassounian said.
Prominent Armenian American author Peter Balakian asks Obama not to
be intimidated by Ankara. "President Obama is a shrew reader of the
world; I hope he will see that the U.S. does not need to be intimated
by a country with one of the worst human rights records in the world
over the past several decades," he said. "We can only hope he is
able to balance pragmatic politics with ethical integrity. We know
he understands the truth of history," he added.
Garen Yegparian, a columnist for several Armenian American newspapers,
said, "I hope President Obama, on his Turkey visit, sits [Turkish
President] Gul and [Prime Minister] Erdogan down, and says, 'Listen
guys, this charade has to end. I'm willing to help you out of the
hole your political predecessors have dug for you. I'll make a good
statement on the Armenian Genocide. You guys raise a hue-and-cry,
act like the sky is falling, and demand a meeting with me. You can
then come to the White House and we'll figure out how to do things
from then out. This way, we'll pacify the loudest Armenians, at least
long enough to figure out how to get them on board for a permanent,
mutually acceptable solution. Now, let's go to your favorite doner
kebab place.'"
"We look to the President, as a man of his word, despite the latest
round of warnings he'll no doubt hear from the Turkish government, to
maintain his principled support for U.S. recognition of the Armenian
Genocide," said Aram Hamparian, the executive director of the Armenian
National Committee of America, a grassroots organization that has
for decades fought for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide in
the U.S. and is active nationally in several anti-genocide campaigns.
"The U.S. response to the Armenian Genocide must no longer be dealt
with down at the level of Turkey's threats, but rather, as the
president has so powerfully articulated, as a matter of fundamental
American values," Hamparian added.
Official Yerevan, although committed to establishing diplomatic
relations with Turkey, also believes that any normalization with Ankara
should not be at the expense of casting doubt on the veracity of the
genocide. Statements to this effect have been made by both Armenian
President Serge Sarkisian and Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.
"I think Obama decided to visit Turkey so soon in his term to
demonstrate how much the U.S. values Turkey's friendship, and hence,
he will personally inform the Turkish leadership that the reason he
will reaffirm the official U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide
is for Turkey's own good, and that's what close friends should do,"
said Giro Manoyan, the political director of the ARF Bureau in
Yerevan. The ARF is a junior partner in Armenia's governing coalition.
"If President Obama does not use the word 'genocide' by this April 24,
then his visit to Turkey would mean adding insult to injury as far as
the Armenian American community is concerned. I think by delivering
what he has time and again committed himself to, he will be helping
the ongoing Armenia-Turkey negotiations, because he will be sending a
clear message to Turkey that it needs to come to terms with its own
history, and based on that establish true neighborly relations with
Armenia," added Manoyan, expressing hope that Obama "does not become
an accomplice in Turkish denial of the Armenian Genocide."
By Khatchig Mouradian
www.asbarez.com/index.html?showarticle= 41131_4/3/2009_1
Friday, April 3, 2009
On April 5, U.S. President Barack Obama will arrive in Turkey, making
it the first Muslim country he visits after taking office. Analysts
say his trip will aim at strengthening ties with Ankara, and point to
the issue of the Armenian Genocide as possibly the most challenging
for the president to deal with during his talks with Turkish officials.
On several occasions during his campaign for president, Obama had
promised to properly recognize the massacres and deportations of the
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide, thus angering Turkey,
which continues to vehemently deny that there was any genocidal intent
towards the Armenians in the last years of the empire.
Official Ankara spends millions of dollars in its denial campaign,
which lobbies politicians, entices support from journalists, funds
academic denial efforts, suppresses education efforts on the Armenian
Genocide to the general public in North and South America, Europe,
and the Middle East (Israel especially).
For decades, Turkey has been struggling against resolutions in
parliaments around the world recognizing the genocide. Twenty
countries, including Russia, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands,
Canada, and Argentina, have already recognized the Armenian massacres
and deportations as genocide, citing the overwhelming consensus of
historians and genocide scholars on the subject.
The main battlefield for genocide recognition in recent years has been
the United States, where a majority of Members of Congress support
passing a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide. But at least
twice in recent history, voting on such resolutions has been postponed
or put on hold at the last minute.
Armenian intellectuals, scholars, and leaders I interviewed this week
expect Obama to stand firmly behind his convictions during his trip
and to send a clear signal to Turkish officials that while he values
Turkey's friendship, he will acknowledge the Armenian Genocide in
the president's annual statement on Armenian Remembrance Day because
truth and good relations need not be mutually exclusive.
Turkish officials, on the other hand, hope that the recent
rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia can be used as a bargaining
chip to keep Obama from speaking the truth. On numerous occasions
in recent months, top Turkish officials have warned the U.S. that
interfering in discussions between Turkey and Armenia and recognizing
the genocide would be detrimental to the budding relations between
Yerevan and Ankara.
"I hope President Obama will impress upon the Turkish leaders the
importance of facing the dark chapters of their history honestly,
their understanding that the United States can recognize the Armenian
Genocide as a historical fact and still remain good friends and
allies with Turkey, and advise them of the undesirability of making
threatening statements against the U.S.," said Harut Sassounian,
one of the most widely read Armenian columnists and the publisher of
the California Courier.
"Furthermore, since President Ronald Reagan signed a Presidential
Proclamation on the Armenian Genocide in 1981, President Obama should
tell the Turks that his April 24 statement would contain nothing new
or earth-shattering. In keeping with his campaign pledge, he would
be simply repeating what has already been acknowledged by a former
president," Sassounian said.
Prominent Armenian American author Peter Balakian asks Obama not to
be intimidated by Ankara. "President Obama is a shrew reader of the
world; I hope he will see that the U.S. does not need to be intimated
by a country with one of the worst human rights records in the world
over the past several decades," he said. "We can only hope he is
able to balance pragmatic politics with ethical integrity. We know
he understands the truth of history," he added.
Garen Yegparian, a columnist for several Armenian American newspapers,
said, "I hope President Obama, on his Turkey visit, sits [Turkish
President] Gul and [Prime Minister] Erdogan down, and says, 'Listen
guys, this charade has to end. I'm willing to help you out of the
hole your political predecessors have dug for you. I'll make a good
statement on the Armenian Genocide. You guys raise a hue-and-cry,
act like the sky is falling, and demand a meeting with me. You can
then come to the White House and we'll figure out how to do things
from then out. This way, we'll pacify the loudest Armenians, at least
long enough to figure out how to get them on board for a permanent,
mutually acceptable solution. Now, let's go to your favorite doner
kebab place.'"
"We look to the President, as a man of his word, despite the latest
round of warnings he'll no doubt hear from the Turkish government, to
maintain his principled support for U.S. recognition of the Armenian
Genocide," said Aram Hamparian, the executive director of the Armenian
National Committee of America, a grassroots organization that has
for decades fought for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide in
the U.S. and is active nationally in several anti-genocide campaigns.
"The U.S. response to the Armenian Genocide must no longer be dealt
with down at the level of Turkey's threats, but rather, as the
president has so powerfully articulated, as a matter of fundamental
American values," Hamparian added.
Official Yerevan, although committed to establishing diplomatic
relations with Turkey, also believes that any normalization with Ankara
should not be at the expense of casting doubt on the veracity of the
genocide. Statements to this effect have been made by both Armenian
President Serge Sarkisian and Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.
"I think Obama decided to visit Turkey so soon in his term to
demonstrate how much the U.S. values Turkey's friendship, and hence,
he will personally inform the Turkish leadership that the reason he
will reaffirm the official U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide
is for Turkey's own good, and that's what close friends should do,"
said Giro Manoyan, the political director of the ARF Bureau in
Yerevan. The ARF is a junior partner in Armenia's governing coalition.
"If President Obama does not use the word 'genocide' by this April 24,
then his visit to Turkey would mean adding insult to injury as far as
the Armenian American community is concerned. I think by delivering
what he has time and again committed himself to, he will be helping
the ongoing Armenia-Turkey negotiations, because he will be sending a
clear message to Turkey that it needs to come to terms with its own
history, and based on that establish true neighborly relations with
Armenia," added Manoyan, expressing hope that Obama "does not become
an accomplice in Turkish denial of the Armenian Genocide."