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ISRAEL RISKS NEW TURKISH IRE WITH RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
By ETHAN BRONNER
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/27/world/middleeast/israel-risks-turkish-ire-with-recognition-of-armenian-genocide.html?_r=1
Published: December 26, 2011
JERUSALEM - The Israeli parliament on Monday held its first public
debate on whether to commemorate the Turkish genocide of Armenians a
century ago, an emotionally resonant and politically fraught topic for
Israel, founded on the ashes of the Holocaust and trying to salvage
frayed ties with Turkey.
The session resulted from a rare confluence of political forces -
a decades-long effort by some on the left to get Israel to take a
leading role in bringing attention to mass murder combined with those
on the right angry at the way Turkey has criticized Israel over its
policies toward the Palestinians.
Previous efforts to declare one day a year a memorial for "the massacre
of the Armenian people" have failed, and hearings on the topic
were restricted to closed sessions of the Parliament's defense and
foreign affairs committee because of concerns over Turkey's reaction,
especially at a time when relations were friendlier.
But with Turkey having recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv, the
hearing was moved this year to the education committee where sessions
are open. The debate was carried on live television.
"As a people and as a country we stand and face the whole world with
the highest moral demand that Holocaust denial is something human
history cannot accept," Reuven Rivlin, the speaker of the Parliament,
who has favored official recognition of the genocide, said in his
testimony. "Therefore we cannot deny the tragedy of others."
More than 15 countries have officially labeled as genocide the
slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians in the chaos surrounding World
War I and the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire. Its denial is a
crime in Switzerland and Slovenia.
The lower house of the French parliament just approved legislation
requiring a fine of nearly $60,000 and a year in jail for denying
it, prompting Turkey to recall its ambassador from Paris and cancel
permission for French military planes to use Turkish airspace and
French naval vessels to enter Turkish harbors.
Turkey acknowledges atrocities occurred but without any specific
death toll and says the killings were not genocide but part of the
inevitable tragedy of war.
At Monday's hearing, attended by an official of the Armenian
patriarchate of Jerusalem and members of Israel's Armenian minority,
some advocates of commemorating the massacre said their efforts had
nothing to do with politics or with the Turkey of today. Rather,
they said, the goal was to face history, educate young Israelis about
genocide and publicly assert the need to prevent such acts.
But officials from the Foreign Ministry said relations with Turkey
today were fragile and that passing such a resolution could have bad
strategic consequences. They did not take a stand on the commemoration
but said the discussion could not be disentangled from regional
developments concerns.
After Israel invaded Gaza three years ago to stop rocket fire by
Palestinian militants, Turkey expressed anger. A year and a half ago,
the Israeli navy stopped a Turkish-sponsored flotilla from going to
Gaza, killing nine activists aboard. Turkey demanded an apology and
compensation and when Israel refused, ties were downgraded. Otniel
Schneller, a parliamentarian from the opposition Kadima Party
and himself the son of Holocaust survivors, spoke against the
commemoration, saying the region was growing more hostile to Israel
in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings and that Israel had to
be pragmatic.
"This is the time when we must rehabilitate our relations with Turkey
because this is an existential issue for us," he said. "We have to
integrate into the Middle East. Sometimes our desire to be right and
moral overcomes our desire to exist, which is in the interest of the
entire country."
The politics of the debate have been head-spinning. The session was
launched by the combined efforts of Alex Miller of the ultranationalist
Yisrael Beiteinu party and Zahava Gal-On of the left-wing Meretz
party. Enthusiastic advocates include many members of Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's hawkish Likud party - yet Mr.
Netanyahu's national security adviser, Yaakov Amidror, telephoned Mr.
Rivlin of Parliament on Sunday and tried to get the session canceled.
Ori Orbach, a parliamentarian from the right-wing Habayit Hayehudi
party, challenged the government's concerns about what Turkey might
do and spoke for many conservatives here.
"How many times can they recall their ambassador?" he asked
rhetorically. "What can Turkey do to us? It's our duty to teach what
happened to the Armenian people."
Many Jews argue for the unique nature of the Nazi Holocaust and
efforts to view it in the context of other genocides have sometimes
met with resistance. But Yehuda Bauer, a longstanding historian
of the Holocaust, spoke at Monday's session in strong support of
commemorating the Armenians.
Later, by telephone, he said that the Nazi Holocaust was unprecedented
in that it was the most extreme and thorough form of genocide so
far in history - the aim was to kill every single Jew everywhere in
the world even though the Jews had no army, no government and their
property had already been taken. Still, he noted, the Armenians lost
two thirds of their people in the killings that started in 1915 and the
Jews only one third in World War II. The Armenian genocide, he said,
deserved wide discussion and education.
"As Jews, we have a special moral obligation and in my book that comes
before any political consideration," he said. He urged the study of
the Armenian genocide throughout Israeli schools and naming April
24, when mass killings of Armenians began in 1915, as a date when
Parliament would mark the deaths.
The committee took no action, agreeing to meet again.
From: Baghdasarian
By ETHAN BRONNER
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/27/world/middleeast/israel-risks-turkish-ire-with-recognition-of-armenian-genocide.html?_r=1
Published: December 26, 2011
JERUSALEM - The Israeli parliament on Monday held its first public
debate on whether to commemorate the Turkish genocide of Armenians a
century ago, an emotionally resonant and politically fraught topic for
Israel, founded on the ashes of the Holocaust and trying to salvage
frayed ties with Turkey.
The session resulted from a rare confluence of political forces -
a decades-long effort by some on the left to get Israel to take a
leading role in bringing attention to mass murder combined with those
on the right angry at the way Turkey has criticized Israel over its
policies toward the Palestinians.
Previous efforts to declare one day a year a memorial for "the massacre
of the Armenian people" have failed, and hearings on the topic
were restricted to closed sessions of the Parliament's defense and
foreign affairs committee because of concerns over Turkey's reaction,
especially at a time when relations were friendlier.
But with Turkey having recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv, the
hearing was moved this year to the education committee where sessions
are open. The debate was carried on live television.
"As a people and as a country we stand and face the whole world with
the highest moral demand that Holocaust denial is something human
history cannot accept," Reuven Rivlin, the speaker of the Parliament,
who has favored official recognition of the genocide, said in his
testimony. "Therefore we cannot deny the tragedy of others."
More than 15 countries have officially labeled as genocide the
slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians in the chaos surrounding World
War I and the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire. Its denial is a
crime in Switzerland and Slovenia.
The lower house of the French parliament just approved legislation
requiring a fine of nearly $60,000 and a year in jail for denying
it, prompting Turkey to recall its ambassador from Paris and cancel
permission for French military planes to use Turkish airspace and
French naval vessels to enter Turkish harbors.
Turkey acknowledges atrocities occurred but without any specific
death toll and says the killings were not genocide but part of the
inevitable tragedy of war.
At Monday's hearing, attended by an official of the Armenian
patriarchate of Jerusalem and members of Israel's Armenian minority,
some advocates of commemorating the massacre said their efforts had
nothing to do with politics or with the Turkey of today. Rather,
they said, the goal was to face history, educate young Israelis about
genocide and publicly assert the need to prevent such acts.
But officials from the Foreign Ministry said relations with Turkey
today were fragile and that passing such a resolution could have bad
strategic consequences. They did not take a stand on the commemoration
but said the discussion could not be disentangled from regional
developments concerns.
After Israel invaded Gaza three years ago to stop rocket fire by
Palestinian militants, Turkey expressed anger. A year and a half ago,
the Israeli navy stopped a Turkish-sponsored flotilla from going to
Gaza, killing nine activists aboard. Turkey demanded an apology and
compensation and when Israel refused, ties were downgraded. Otniel
Schneller, a parliamentarian from the opposition Kadima Party
and himself the son of Holocaust survivors, spoke against the
commemoration, saying the region was growing more hostile to Israel
in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings and that Israel had to
be pragmatic.
"This is the time when we must rehabilitate our relations with Turkey
because this is an existential issue for us," he said. "We have to
integrate into the Middle East. Sometimes our desire to be right and
moral overcomes our desire to exist, which is in the interest of the
entire country."
The politics of the debate have been head-spinning. The session was
launched by the combined efforts of Alex Miller of the ultranationalist
Yisrael Beiteinu party and Zahava Gal-On of the left-wing Meretz
party. Enthusiastic advocates include many members of Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's hawkish Likud party - yet Mr.
Netanyahu's national security adviser, Yaakov Amidror, telephoned Mr.
Rivlin of Parliament on Sunday and tried to get the session canceled.
Ori Orbach, a parliamentarian from the right-wing Habayit Hayehudi
party, challenged the government's concerns about what Turkey might
do and spoke for many conservatives here.
"How many times can they recall their ambassador?" he asked
rhetorically. "What can Turkey do to us? It's our duty to teach what
happened to the Armenian people."
Many Jews argue for the unique nature of the Nazi Holocaust and
efforts to view it in the context of other genocides have sometimes
met with resistance. But Yehuda Bauer, a longstanding historian
of the Holocaust, spoke at Monday's session in strong support of
commemorating the Armenians.
Later, by telephone, he said that the Nazi Holocaust was unprecedented
in that it was the most extreme and thorough form of genocide so
far in history - the aim was to kill every single Jew everywhere in
the world even though the Jews had no army, no government and their
property had already been taken. Still, he noted, the Armenians lost
two thirds of their people in the killings that started in 1915 and the
Jews only one third in World War II. The Armenian genocide, he said,
deserved wide discussion and education.
"As Jews, we have a special moral obligation and in my book that comes
before any political consideration," he said. He urged the study of
the Armenian genocide throughout Israeli schools and naming April
24, when mass killings of Armenians began in 1915, as a date when
Parliament would mark the deaths.
The committee took no action, agreeing to meet again.
From: Baghdasarian