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CONGRESS SHOULD DO ITS JOB, NOT WRITE HISTORY
Muncie Star Press
http://www.thestarpress.com/article/20100302 /OPINION/3020346
March 2 2010
Indiana
The United States is currently confronted with a daunting number of
challenges in our nation's foreign relations. America is managing wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan and trying to find ways to bring our troops
back safely and without compromising our national security. We are
working to maintain a nuclear-free Iran, secure our energy sources
and prevent the growth and spread of international terrorist networks.
In all these and many other areas affecting Americans and millions of
others around the world, we have an ally in Turkey. Our trade with
Turkey topped $10 billion in 2009, leaving the United States with a
$3.5 billion trade surplus, supporting thousands of valuable jobs in
critical industries.
In a bizarre move during such turbulent times, members of the House
Foreign Affairs Committee, including Rep. Mike Pence, are preparing
to vote on March 4 on House Resolution 252, which will recognize as
"genocide" tragic events that took place nearly 100 years ago in
the now defunct Ottoman Empire, despite many holes in the historical
argument.
This begs the question: why is the committee, at a time when we are
dealing with pressing international and domestic issues, all of which
require Turkey's support and active participation, squandering its
time on an issue that has no relevance to America's foreign relations
and interests?
The answer is simple: Lobbying.
Despite much bravado about limiting the influence of special interests,
money and manpower still control Washington's agenda. In the United
States there are nearly one million Armenian Americans, concentrated
in a number of congressional districts, who support a lobby that
spends an estimated $40 million annually on furthering its agenda,
which revolves around recognition of an "Armenian Genocide."
Their efforts have also made Armenia, a small landlocked region,
the second largest per-capita recipient of U.S. foreign aid.
Proponents of the Resolution frequently admonish its opponents by
pointing to a moral obligation of Congress to pronounce that the
now-defunct Ottoman Empire, committed "genocide" against Armenians. In
doing so, they choose to ignore the many well-regarded historians
who dispute this claim. Still, Armenian resolutions persist due to
the efforts of a well organized Armenian lobby that has turned hating
Turkey into an existential cause.
To roaring cheers at a 2005 Armenian rally in New York, Rep. Frank
Pallone of New Jersey, Co-Chairman of the Congressional Armenian
Caucus, proclaimed, "The Turkish envoy said that not only did the
genocide never occur, but he suggested that the reason why Armenians
want to recognize the Armenian Genocide today -- want the Congress
and the other countries to be on record -- is because they wanted
restitution and they wanted reparations. And I say to that 'Yes,
we do!' It is important not only to recognize the genocide but we
have to make it clear that those who committed it pay restitution
... There must be recognition, there must be restitution, there must
be reparations for the Armenian Genocide."
The resolution comes up for a vote at a particularly strange time.
Armenia and Turkey are trying to work through a diplomatic process,
with the support of the United States, which lays out a roadmap
to normalizing relations. This effort includes the establishment
of a joint historical commission of scholars and experts. Turkey's
leadership time and again has stated that it will accept the findings
of such a commission. It is telling that the Armenian lobby and its
supporters in Congress not only oppose the normalization process,
but, with even greater zeal, the establishment of this commission.
This issue, ultimately, should not be on the docket of the House
Foreign Affairs Committee. Congress is neither the "conscience" of
the world, nor its revisionist historian. It's time to put an end to
a dangerous game, but it will only end when Americans pay attention
and raise their voice and tell Rep. Pence to oppose this resolution
on March 4, and every time it comes up in the future.
Lincoln McCurdy is president of the Turkish Coalition of America and
a former U.S. diplomat. Learn more about TCA at www.tc-america.org.
Muncie Star Press
http://www.thestarpress.com/article/20100302 /OPINION/3020346
March 2 2010
Indiana
The United States is currently confronted with a daunting number of
challenges in our nation's foreign relations. America is managing wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan and trying to find ways to bring our troops
back safely and without compromising our national security. We are
working to maintain a nuclear-free Iran, secure our energy sources
and prevent the growth and spread of international terrorist networks.
In all these and many other areas affecting Americans and millions of
others around the world, we have an ally in Turkey. Our trade with
Turkey topped $10 billion in 2009, leaving the United States with a
$3.5 billion trade surplus, supporting thousands of valuable jobs in
critical industries.
In a bizarre move during such turbulent times, members of the House
Foreign Affairs Committee, including Rep. Mike Pence, are preparing
to vote on March 4 on House Resolution 252, which will recognize as
"genocide" tragic events that took place nearly 100 years ago in
the now defunct Ottoman Empire, despite many holes in the historical
argument.
This begs the question: why is the committee, at a time when we are
dealing with pressing international and domestic issues, all of which
require Turkey's support and active participation, squandering its
time on an issue that has no relevance to America's foreign relations
and interests?
The answer is simple: Lobbying.
Despite much bravado about limiting the influence of special interests,
money and manpower still control Washington's agenda. In the United
States there are nearly one million Armenian Americans, concentrated
in a number of congressional districts, who support a lobby that
spends an estimated $40 million annually on furthering its agenda,
which revolves around recognition of an "Armenian Genocide."
Their efforts have also made Armenia, a small landlocked region,
the second largest per-capita recipient of U.S. foreign aid.
Proponents of the Resolution frequently admonish its opponents by
pointing to a moral obligation of Congress to pronounce that the
now-defunct Ottoman Empire, committed "genocide" against Armenians. In
doing so, they choose to ignore the many well-regarded historians
who dispute this claim. Still, Armenian resolutions persist due to
the efforts of a well organized Armenian lobby that has turned hating
Turkey into an existential cause.
To roaring cheers at a 2005 Armenian rally in New York, Rep. Frank
Pallone of New Jersey, Co-Chairman of the Congressional Armenian
Caucus, proclaimed, "The Turkish envoy said that not only did the
genocide never occur, but he suggested that the reason why Armenians
want to recognize the Armenian Genocide today -- want the Congress
and the other countries to be on record -- is because they wanted
restitution and they wanted reparations. And I say to that 'Yes,
we do!' It is important not only to recognize the genocide but we
have to make it clear that those who committed it pay restitution
... There must be recognition, there must be restitution, there must
be reparations for the Armenian Genocide."
The resolution comes up for a vote at a particularly strange time.
Armenia and Turkey are trying to work through a diplomatic process,
with the support of the United States, which lays out a roadmap
to normalizing relations. This effort includes the establishment
of a joint historical commission of scholars and experts. Turkey's
leadership time and again has stated that it will accept the findings
of such a commission. It is telling that the Armenian lobby and its
supporters in Congress not only oppose the normalization process,
but, with even greater zeal, the establishment of this commission.
This issue, ultimately, should not be on the docket of the House
Foreign Affairs Committee. Congress is neither the "conscience" of
the world, nor its revisionist historian. It's time to put an end to
a dangerous game, but it will only end when Americans pay attention
and raise their voice and tell Rep. Pence to oppose this resolution
on March 4, and every time it comes up in the future.
Lincoln McCurdy is president of the Turkish Coalition of America and
a former U.S. diplomat. Learn more about TCA at www.tc-america.org.