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'Oh, What A Tangled Web We Weave, When First We Practice To Deceive!

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  • 'Oh, What A Tangled Web We Weave, When First We Practice To Deceive!

    'OH, WHAT A TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE, WHEN FIRST WE PRACTICE TO DECEIVE!'

    Panorama.am
    16:11 09/02/2010

    The title of this article, taken from Walter Scott's epic poem, the
    Marmion, aptly describes the web of deceit weaved by Turkey's leaders
    in seeking to create the false impression of wanting to normalize
    relations with Armenia.

    Under the guise of opening the border and establishing diplomatic
    relations with Armenia, Turkish officials actually intended to:
    1) extract concessions from Armenia - returning Karabagh (Artsakh)
    to Azerbaijan, forming a historical commission to review the facts
    of the Genocide, and blocking territorial demands from Turkey; 2)
    prevent the acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide by third countries,
    particularly the United States; and 3) generate a positive image in
    order to facilitate Turkey's entry into the European Union.

    If Turkey was sincere in its expressed desire to open the border with
    Armenia, it could have done so just as easily and quickly as it did
    when closing it in 1993. There was no need for lengthy negotiations,
    convoluted protocols, and parliamentary ratification. Furthermore,
    rather than demanding concessions, Turks should have offered
    inducements to Armenia for agreeing to open the border, because with
    closed borders, Turkey cannot join the EU.

    Ever since April 22, 2009, when the first concrete step was taken
    by the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Turkey by issuing a roadmap
    for normalizing their relations, Turkish leaders continued to state
    that they won't open the border with Armenia without first resolving
    the Artsakh conflict. Even after signing the Protocols on October 10,
    2009 and submitting them to Parliament eleven days later, the Turkish
    government still insisted that the border would remain closed until
    Artsakh was returned to Azerbaijan.

    Since none of the major powers supported the precondition on
    Artsakh, Turkey's leaders used the January 12, 2010 verdict of
    Armenia's Constitutional Court as a new excuse for not ratifying the
    Protocols in the last four months. Even though the Court ruled that the
    obligations stipulated by the Protocols complied with the constitution,
    the Ankara leadership expressed dissatisfaction in order to cover up
    its intent not to ratify the Protocols. Turkey demanded that the Court
    "correct" its decision, just because it had blocked the unwarranted
    interpretations and preconditions of the Turkish side.

    Unable to convince Armenia to meet their demands, Turkish officials
    approached Russia, the United States, and Switzerland (the mediator
    on the Protocols) to apply pressure on Armenia "to correct" the
    Constitutional Court's decision. Once again, the Turks were rebuffed.

    Last week, Turkey stumbled on a new excuse not to ratify the Protocols
    -- the announcement by Cong. Howard Berman (Dem.-CA), Chairman of
    the House Foreign Affairs Committee, that his panel would take up
    the Armenian Genocide resolution on March 4.

    Even though the genocide resolution is unrelated to the Protocols, a
    few days before Cong. Berman's announcement, Turkey's new Ambassador
    to Washington, Namik Tan, warned the U.S. Congress against such a
    move and boldly predicted that such a resolution would not come up
    for a vote "this year or anytime in the future." Amb. Tan's warning
    clearly exposed Turkey's hidden agenda to bury the acknowledgment of
    the Armenian Genocide at every opportunity.

    Now that the genocide resolution is scheduled for a vote, what would
    the Turks do? They are caught in their own web of deceit! If they
    rush to ratify the Protocols in order to prevent the adoption of the
    resolution, they would antagonize their Azeri ally and create internal
    political turmoil. On the other hand, If they does not ratify the
    Protocols very soon, there is a high probability that the genocide
    resolution would receive congressional approval this year.

    Meanwhile, Washington is losing patience with Turkey's repeated excuses
    for dragging its feet on the Protocols. In retaliation, the Obama
    administration could use the genocide resolution as a stick to prod
    Turkey into ratifying the Protocols. Moreover, Turkey cannot count on
    much political support from Israel or American-Jewish organizations in
    order to block the genocide resolution, due to the incessant insults
    hurled by Prime Minister Erdogan at Israeli leaders over the past year.

    By refusing to ratify the Protocols, Turkey has taken away from the
    Obama administration its excuse for not acknowledging the Armenian
    Genocide. Despite his repeated campaign promises, Pres. Obama
    refrained from using the term Armenian Genocide in his April 24,
    2009 statement. He had unwisely adopted the duplicitous Turkish line
    that third countries should not acknowledge the Armenian Genocide,
    while Armenia and Turkey were trying to normalize their relations.

    It is noteworthy that when Philip Gordon, Assistant Secretary of
    State, was asked last week to comment on the likely impact of the
    Armenian Genocide resolution on the Protocols, he insisted that they
    be ratified without preconditions. Significantly, he did not use the
    occasion to express any opposition to the resolution.

    Any attempt by the administration to block the congressional resolution
    would be highly embarrassing for Pres. Obama, Vice President Joe Biden
    and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, since all three as Senators
    and presidential candidates had issued strong statements in support
    of acknowledging the Armenian Genocide.

    Since Obama administration officials have repeatedly stated that the
    Protocols have no preconditions, then there should be no reason for
    them to object to the adoption of the genocide resolution.

    It should be stated that in normal circumstances there would be no
    need for further action by the President or Congress on recognition
    of the Armenian Genocide which is already an acknowledged fact. In
    1975 and 1984, the U.S. House of Representatives adopted resolutions
    recognizing the Genocide and Pres. Reagan acknowledged it in his
    Presidential Proclamation of 1981. However, in view of Turkey's
    devious designs to roll back the international recognition of the
    Armenian Genocide, it is imperative that the United States government
    reaffirm its acknowledgment. This would also be an appropriate
    response to the deceptive Turkish tactics of using the Protocols to
    extract concessions, under the false pretense of opening the border
    with Armenia.

    By Harut Sassounian Publisher, The California Courier
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