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TENSION OVER ISRAELI PROPOSAL TO COMMEMORATE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2011/12/tension-over-israeli-lawmakers-proposal-to-commemorate-armenian-genocide.html
December 25, 2011
REPORTING FROM JERUSALEM -- Israeli lawmakers plan to discuss the
possibility of setting a day to commemorate the Armenian genocide of
1915-18. But the initiative is causing tension ahead of the discussion,
scheduled for Monday, because of concerns over the reaction by Turkey,
which denies a genocide took place.
Until now, similar commemoration proposals have been referred to
parliamentary committees that meet behind closed doors. This will
be the first time the subject will be discussed at a committee whose
meetings are public.
If it takes place.
Israel's national security advisor, Yakov Amidror, requested further
information on the scheduled debate on behalf of the prime minister's
office and, according to press reports, asked to postpone it. Knesset
speaker Reuven Rivlin reportedly refused, sticking to his years-long
position that, of all nations, Israel must address the issue.
Israel's relations with Turkey are such that there appears to be no
good time for this discussion. In the past, initiatives to acknowledge
the Armenian genocide and teach it in Israeli schools were shot down
for fear of angering Turkey, once a close ally. Now there is concern
that it could push their unstable relations over a cliff.
Monday's discussion -- scheduled months ago -- comes at the request
of politicians from opposite poles of Israeli politics, reflecting
a mix of attitudes as well as motives.
A law recently passed in France that made denial of the Armenian
genocide a crime sparked a diplomatic crisis with Turkey, which
recalled its ambassador and cut economic and military ties with France.
Israel's own ties with Turkey have cratered in recent years. The
latest challenge to the icy relations came last week, when Israel's
Defense Ministry canceled a sizable contract with the Turkish air force
for the supply of advanced airborne intelligence-gathering systems,
possibly for fear they could find their way to Iran.
Armenians -- supported by many historians -- say as many as 1.5
million Christian Armenians, about one-third of their ethnic nation,
were killed by the Ottoman Empire. Turkey rejects that a genocide
occurred, cites much lower numbers and puts the losses in the context
of battles for minority independence during World War I.
Armenians are aggressively pushing for international recognition
of the killings as genocide, and Turkey is just as persistent in
fighting the effort. Israel finds itself in a moral and diplomatic
dilemma on the issue, which has also been dogging American-Turkish
relations and U.S. politics in recent years.
In 2003, a member of the Armenian community was chosen to light a
torch in the yearly memorial ceremony preceding Israeli independence
day. Naomi Nalbandian had described herself as a "third-generation
survivor of the Armenian holocaust," but diplomatic pressure from
Turkey led to the reprinting of the government-issued pamphlets to
make them say her grandparents were "survivors of historic Armenia."
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2011/12/tension-over-israeli-lawmakers-proposal-to-commemorate-armenian-genocide.html
December 25, 2011
REPORTING FROM JERUSALEM -- Israeli lawmakers plan to discuss the
possibility of setting a day to commemorate the Armenian genocide of
1915-18. But the initiative is causing tension ahead of the discussion,
scheduled for Monday, because of concerns over the reaction by Turkey,
which denies a genocide took place.
Until now, similar commemoration proposals have been referred to
parliamentary committees that meet behind closed doors. This will
be the first time the subject will be discussed at a committee whose
meetings are public.
If it takes place.
Israel's national security advisor, Yakov Amidror, requested further
information on the scheduled debate on behalf of the prime minister's
office and, according to press reports, asked to postpone it. Knesset
speaker Reuven Rivlin reportedly refused, sticking to his years-long
position that, of all nations, Israel must address the issue.
Israel's relations with Turkey are such that there appears to be no
good time for this discussion. In the past, initiatives to acknowledge
the Armenian genocide and teach it in Israeli schools were shot down
for fear of angering Turkey, once a close ally. Now there is concern
that it could push their unstable relations over a cliff.
Monday's discussion -- scheduled months ago -- comes at the request
of politicians from opposite poles of Israeli politics, reflecting
a mix of attitudes as well as motives.
A law recently passed in France that made denial of the Armenian
genocide a crime sparked a diplomatic crisis with Turkey, which
recalled its ambassador and cut economic and military ties with France.
Israel's own ties with Turkey have cratered in recent years. The
latest challenge to the icy relations came last week, when Israel's
Defense Ministry canceled a sizable contract with the Turkish air force
for the supply of advanced airborne intelligence-gathering systems,
possibly for fear they could find their way to Iran.
Armenians -- supported by many historians -- say as many as 1.5
million Christian Armenians, about one-third of their ethnic nation,
were killed by the Ottoman Empire. Turkey rejects that a genocide
occurred, cites much lower numbers and puts the losses in the context
of battles for minority independence during World War I.
Armenians are aggressively pushing for international recognition
of the killings as genocide, and Turkey is just as persistent in
fighting the effort. Israel finds itself in a moral and diplomatic
dilemma on the issue, which has also been dogging American-Turkish
relations and U.S. politics in recent years.
In 2003, a member of the Armenian community was chosen to light a
torch in the yearly memorial ceremony preceding Israeli independence
day. Naomi Nalbandian had described herself as a "third-generation
survivor of the Armenian holocaust," but diplomatic pressure from
Turkey led to the reprinting of the government-issued pamphlets to
make them say her grandparents were "survivors of historic Armenia."