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CONTROVERSIAL DEBATE
Oman Tribune
http://www.omantribune.com/index.php?page=editorial_details&id=2184&heading=E DITORIAL
Dec 28 2011
Sultanate of Oman
Israeli lawmakers, debating to recognise as genocide the 1915 killings
of Armenians by Ottoman Turks, have raised a sensitive issue which
could only have a negative effect on that country's already frayed
relations with Turkey. But why now, at the very end of 2011 has such
an issue brought up in the Israeli parliament? For Turkey, the 2010
incident when a Gaza-bound Turkish aid ship was boarded and attacked
by Israeli commandos leading to the killing of nine Turks, is still
fresh and hurting. Much of the anguish expressed over the attack
by Turkey has not elicited a proper response from the Israelis,
who said at the time that its marines acted in self defence after
an initial boarding party was attacked, and relations continue to be
sour. Even as the lawmakers' debate focused on the 1915 incident as
genocide Israel's Foreign Ministry has warned of the grave danger to
the already taut relations between the two countries, both strategic
allies and regional powerhouses.
The issue being debated by Members of the Knesset, has stirred the
emotions of the Jewish people, particularly since some legislators
argued that the Israeli people have a moral obligation to identify
with the Armenian tragedy after the Nazi Holocaust which was a Jewish
tragedy. Unless saner counsels prevail in the Israeli parliament any
such move would no doubt be at the risk of further angering Ankara
and inviting a certain backlash as successive Turkish governments
have denied genocide saying that there was a heavy loss of life on
both sides during the 1915 war in the region. While the Israeli
parliament's Education and Culture Committee has not taken any
decision on the issue, it said it would hold another session at a
future date. Irit Lillian, an Israeli Foreign Ministry official who
addressed the forum, was quoted as saying: "I can say at this time,
recognition of this type can have very grave strategic implications.
Our relations with Turkey today are so fragile and so delicate that
there is no place to take them over the red line, where we have been,
I'm sorry to say, for many months."
The debate in Israel follows on the heels of recent developments in
France where the French National Assembly voted overwhelmingly in
favour of a draft law outlawing genocide denial. Ankara's reaction
was swift, all economic, political and military meetings with its
Nato partner were cancelled. Observers view the French bill as an
attempt by President Nicolas Sarkozy to gain the backing of Armenians
in next year's Presidential elections while heated reaction in Turkey
is that the bill is an attempt to put a hurdle in the way of Turkey's
EU ambitions by harming its relations with those countries. While
Turkish-French relations could be seriously jeopardized by the French
bill, which will make it a criminal offence to deny that the killing
of Armenians during World War I amounted to genocide, any action over
the Israeli debate could also lead to serious consequences.
Oman Tribune
http://www.omantribune.com/index.php?page=editorial_details&id=2184&heading=E DITORIAL
Dec 28 2011
Sultanate of Oman
Israeli lawmakers, debating to recognise as genocide the 1915 killings
of Armenians by Ottoman Turks, have raised a sensitive issue which
could only have a negative effect on that country's already frayed
relations with Turkey. But why now, at the very end of 2011 has such
an issue brought up in the Israeli parliament? For Turkey, the 2010
incident when a Gaza-bound Turkish aid ship was boarded and attacked
by Israeli commandos leading to the killing of nine Turks, is still
fresh and hurting. Much of the anguish expressed over the attack
by Turkey has not elicited a proper response from the Israelis,
who said at the time that its marines acted in self defence after
an initial boarding party was attacked, and relations continue to be
sour. Even as the lawmakers' debate focused on the 1915 incident as
genocide Israel's Foreign Ministry has warned of the grave danger to
the already taut relations between the two countries, both strategic
allies and regional powerhouses.
The issue being debated by Members of the Knesset, has stirred the
emotions of the Jewish people, particularly since some legislators
argued that the Israeli people have a moral obligation to identify
with the Armenian tragedy after the Nazi Holocaust which was a Jewish
tragedy. Unless saner counsels prevail in the Israeli parliament any
such move would no doubt be at the risk of further angering Ankara
and inviting a certain backlash as successive Turkish governments
have denied genocide saying that there was a heavy loss of life on
both sides during the 1915 war in the region. While the Israeli
parliament's Education and Culture Committee has not taken any
decision on the issue, it said it would hold another session at a
future date. Irit Lillian, an Israeli Foreign Ministry official who
addressed the forum, was quoted as saying: "I can say at this time,
recognition of this type can have very grave strategic implications.
Our relations with Turkey today are so fragile and so delicate that
there is no place to take them over the red line, where we have been,
I'm sorry to say, for many months."
The debate in Israel follows on the heels of recent developments in
France where the French National Assembly voted overwhelmingly in
favour of a draft law outlawing genocide denial. Ankara's reaction
was swift, all economic, political and military meetings with its
Nato partner were cancelled. Observers view the French bill as an
attempt by President Nicolas Sarkozy to gain the backing of Armenians
in next year's Presidential elections while heated reaction in Turkey
is that the bill is an attempt to put a hurdle in the way of Turkey's
EU ambitions by harming its relations with those countries. While
Turkish-French relations could be seriously jeopardized by the French
bill, which will make it a criminal offence to deny that the killing
of Armenians during World War I amounted to genocide, any action over
the Israeli debate could also lead to serious consequences.