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Newsweek: Congress Can Help Keep The Path To Reconciliation Open If

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  • Newsweek: Congress Can Help Keep The Path To Reconciliation Open If

    NEWSWEEK: CONGRESS CAN HELP KEEP THE PATH TO RECONCILIATION OPEN IF IT IS WILLING TO DENY THE ARMENIAN-AMERICAN LOBBY THE INSTANT GRATIFICATION OF A GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

    ArmInfo
    2009-03-02 13:09:00

    ArmInfo. Congress can help keep the path to reconciliation open
    if it is willing to deny the Armenian-American lobby the instant
    gratification of a genocide resolution, whites American Newsweek in
    an item 'How to End Genocide Debate'?

    The magazine writes: 'It's almost April, so Washington is gearing
    up for another performance of the "Armenian Genocide Resolution
    Spectacular," a regular event since 1984. Here's the historical
    plotline: the Armenian-American lobby gets a few U.S. congressmen to
    sponsor a resolution recognizing the 1915 massacre of Armenians in
    what is now Eastern Turkey as a "genocide." Then other members of
    the House are induced to support it. (Members of the House may not
    be history buffs, but they understand the importance of stroking a
    powerful domestic lobby.) Next, the Turkish government says Turkey
    is too important to be insulted like this. In response, the American
    administration, recognizing that Turkey is indeed a critical NATO ally
    whose Incirlik Air Base is vital to the Iraq mission, starts twisting
    congressional arms to abandon the resolution. Offstage, the Israeli
    lobby, generally keen to boost Turkish- Israeli relations (though
    less so this year), works against the resolution. Finally, the House
    leadership reluctantly shelves the whole thing and the curtain falls.

    Before staging this year's performance, however, Congress should
    note that hitherto frozen relations between Armenia and Turkey are
    now showing signs of melting, and that this may be the first step
    toward reconciling the Turkish and Armenian peoples. In September,
    Turkish President Abdullah Gul attended a Turkey-Armenia football match
    in Yerevan at the invitation of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan,
    who recently met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in
    Davos. The two foreign ministers, Turkey's Ali Babacan and Armenia's
    Eduard Nalbandian have also been meeting. Both have made optimistic
    noises.

    Progress has been possible because the Armenians have focused on the
    concrete issue of opening the Armenian-Turkish border-a vital matter
    to them since none of their other neighbors (Azerbaijan, Georgia and
    Iran) can offer a viable trade route to the West. Both sides have
    wisely avoided the genocide dispute, surely recognizing it will have
    to be dealt with eventually but that developing economic ties will
    make it easier to do so.

    Lingering in the background, however, is the Armenian diaspora's
    passionate insistence that there was a genocide-and its mirror
    image in the fury of the Turkish people denying it. Right or wrong
    is not the point. No Turkish government could contemplate opening
    the Armenian border with this issue front and center, and Congress
    should re cognize that a genocide resolution would put it there.

    In all probability, Turkey and Armenia can only resolve the genocide
    dispute if they recognize that "was it a genocide?" may be the ultimate
    question, but it is not the most important one today. To those aiming
    for reconciliation, two questions outrank it: what common facts can
    Turks and Armenians be brought to accept, and is the common ground
    sufficient for both sides to start binding up the wounds? To this
    end, Erdogan's proposal to establish a joint historical commission
    should be pursued. Though Armenia has rejected the idea so far-largely
    because it is winning its argument on the world stage-the government
    has softened its stance recently. If the aim is reconciliation,
    persuading the Turks to abandon the blanket denial they are taught
    as schoolchildren is what counts.

    Progress is not as implausible as it sounds. In the early days of the
    Republic, Kemal Ataturk, who was not personally implicated, described
    the Armenian massacres as "shameful acts." No ex-Ottoman officials
    were investigated, however, as Turkey needed the newly minted heroes
    of its War of Independence to have no stain on their characters. Today,
    Erdogan will accept an investigation. In return, Armenia must accept a
    reciprocal investigation into the Ottoman Armenians, who fought with
    the sultan's Russian enemy, and their responsibility for massacres
    of Turks and Kurds.

    Weaving together these two violently oppo sed historical perspectives
    will take time and patience. As important as the final answer, however,
    is the development of empathy across the divide.

    Congress can help keep the path to reconciliation open if it is
    willing to deny the Armenian-American lobby the instant gratification
    of a genocide resolution. Surely doing so would be far better than
    repeating the exercises of the last 25 years over and over again until
    a resolution finally passes and all the House's leverage over Turkey
    evaporates, along with most of the good will in the Turkish-American
    alliance, and maybe even the alliance itself. For its part, the
    Armenian diaspora might even support reconciliation if only as its
    second choice.

    Finally, good relations between Turkey and Armenia would further
    U.S. objectives in the Caucasus. The proposed hydrocarbon corridor
    through the Caucasus from Central Asia looks much more secure in the
    context of Turkish-Armenian friendship, and it might give Armenia
    the confidence to break with the status quo in the longstanding
    Nagorno-Karabakh dispute with neighboring Azerbaijan. Congress
    and others should recognize that this year holds real promise for
    the beginning of reconciliation between the Turkish and Armenian
    peoples. If nothing comes of it, Congress can always return to
    a resolution'.
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