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IF TURKEY WANTS ISRAEL'S APOLOGY IT SHOULD APOLOGIZE FOR ARMENIAN GENOCIDE FIRST
HULIQ.com
http://www.huliq.com/8738/apologies-all-around-except
Sept 5 2011
Some say Turkish neo-ottoman appetite is growing and as Turkey
wants Israel to apologize for the flotilla incident, it should first
apologize to Armenia for the Armenian genocide by looking back to
its own history.
The subject was thrown into sharp relief this weekend when Turkey
sent Israel's ambassador home after the Israelis refused to issue an
apology for killing nine Turkish nationals while enforcing a naval
blockade Israel has imposed on Gaza.
Turkey took the action after a United Nations panel found that Israel
had used excessive force in stopping a flotilla of Hamas sympathizers
launched from Turkey from reaching Gaza. The same panel, however,
also found that Israel was within its rights to impose and enforce
the blockade, and the Israeli government has used this finding to
reject Turkey's call for an apology.
Turkey's temper tantrum in response is somewhat ironic in light
of a similar request that has been waiting in its inbox for several
decades. That one, from Armenia, calls on Turkey to express regret for
the extermination of more than a million Armenians during the First
World War years, an act many regard as the first modern genocide but
which Turkey refuses to acknowledge as such.
As the Turkish and Armenian governments have been engaged in a delicate
diplomatic dance aimed at producing a mutually satisfying answer to
that request, and as the Turks have done nothing further recently to
upset the Armenians, there have been no displays of official ire from
Yerevan over the lack of response to that request.
In contrast, Turkey allowed the flotilla to set sail from its
territory, an action the Israelis could have interpreted as a
deliberate provocation on the Turkish government's part.
Israel, however, counts Turkey as one of its few friends in the
Islamic world, and as such, has avoided any actions that might annoy
the Turks. That includes speaking up about the Armenian genocide, an
issue that one might expect the Israelis to be especially sympathetic.
The German government has issued a formal apology to Israel for the
Holocaust as well as paid reparations to Israel and the descendants
of those who perished in the systematic German extermination of Jews.
One of the reasons Turkey refuses to issue an apology for the Armenian
genocide is because the events occurred under a regime and in a country
that no longer exists. Yet the same could be said about the regime
that carried out the Holocaust. And with Turkey's current government,
led by an Islamist party, moving to assert itself more as a regional
power, some of its traditional rivals are expressing fears that it
may have Ottoman ambitions.
All of this suggests that the Turkish government might want to rethink
its actrions in the wake of Israels refusal to apologize for the
flotilla intervention. Or maybe work on one of its own.
HULIQ.com
http://www.huliq.com/8738/apologies-all-around-except
Sept 5 2011
Some say Turkish neo-ottoman appetite is growing and as Turkey
wants Israel to apologize for the flotilla incident, it should first
apologize to Armenia for the Armenian genocide by looking back to
its own history.
The subject was thrown into sharp relief this weekend when Turkey
sent Israel's ambassador home after the Israelis refused to issue an
apology for killing nine Turkish nationals while enforcing a naval
blockade Israel has imposed on Gaza.
Turkey took the action after a United Nations panel found that Israel
had used excessive force in stopping a flotilla of Hamas sympathizers
launched from Turkey from reaching Gaza. The same panel, however,
also found that Israel was within its rights to impose and enforce
the blockade, and the Israeli government has used this finding to
reject Turkey's call for an apology.
Turkey's temper tantrum in response is somewhat ironic in light
of a similar request that has been waiting in its inbox for several
decades. That one, from Armenia, calls on Turkey to express regret for
the extermination of more than a million Armenians during the First
World War years, an act many regard as the first modern genocide but
which Turkey refuses to acknowledge as such.
As the Turkish and Armenian governments have been engaged in a delicate
diplomatic dance aimed at producing a mutually satisfying answer to
that request, and as the Turks have done nothing further recently to
upset the Armenians, there have been no displays of official ire from
Yerevan over the lack of response to that request.
In contrast, Turkey allowed the flotilla to set sail from its
territory, an action the Israelis could have interpreted as a
deliberate provocation on the Turkish government's part.
Israel, however, counts Turkey as one of its few friends in the
Islamic world, and as such, has avoided any actions that might annoy
the Turks. That includes speaking up about the Armenian genocide, an
issue that one might expect the Israelis to be especially sympathetic.
The German government has issued a formal apology to Israel for the
Holocaust as well as paid reparations to Israel and the descendants
of those who perished in the systematic German extermination of Jews.
One of the reasons Turkey refuses to issue an apology for the Armenian
genocide is because the events occurred under a regime and in a country
that no longer exists. Yet the same could be said about the regime
that carried out the Holocaust. And with Turkey's current government,
led by an Islamist party, moving to assert itself more as a regional
power, some of its traditional rivals are expressing fears that it
may have Ottoman ambitions.
All of this suggests that the Turkish government might want to rethink
its actrions in the wake of Israels refusal to apologize for the
flotilla intervention. Or maybe work on one of its own.