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Today's Zaman, Turkey
Jan 1 2012
Israel's knesset maneuvering to exploit tragic 1915 events
1 January 2012 / GÃ-ZDE NUR DONAT / MAHÄ°R ZEYNALOV, Ä°STANBUL
The global Israeli lobby has significantly lessened its previously
staunch support of Turkey in preventing foreign parliaments from
labeling mass killings of Armenians at the hands of the Ottomans in
1915 as genocide, but there is little evidence that current tensions
between Turkey and Israel will ramp up the lobby's efforts to get the
Armenian massacres recognized as genocide.
Israeli parliametary commission started discussing Armenian killings
of genocide following a controversial bill the French parliament
endorsed last week.
This recent development reinforced an idea that the Israeli lobby is
supportive of the Armenian lobby in pushing parliaments to recognize
Armenian killings as genocide.
The lower house of the French parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor
of a bill that made it a crime to deny that the World War I-era mass
killings of Armenians constituted genocide. Turkey announced a set of
punitive measures against France, halting official contacts, recalling
its ambassador and canceling planned political, economic meetings.
Days later, a committee in the Israeli parliament began debating the
Armenian claims of genocide.
The Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee, headed by
lawmaker Alex Miller, began discussing the issue at a public hearing.
The session was also attended by Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin.
The committee considered a proposal to designate a memorial day for
the killings and recognize them as genocide.
Rivlin last Monday denied that the move was in response to events in
the United States or France and said the Knesset has been holding
similar discussions for years.
A strategy for the recognition of the `Armenian genocide' embraced by
the powerful Armenian lobby around the world has been pursued through
an array of parliamentary initiatives, mostly in Western nations as it
is an effective way of irritating Turkey. Support for Turkey by the
Israeli lobby against similar initiatives was based on the
anticipation that Turkey would maintain its benign foreign policy
toward Israel despite its brutal treatment of the Palestinians.
It has become increasingly clear that the Israeli lobby will cease its
support for Turkey in blocking recognition of Armenian claims of
genocide. But to what extent the Israeli lobby will be supportive of
the Armenian genocide claims still remains unknown.
Israeli diplomats in Ä°stanbul said that whereas Israel believes the
events surrounding the 1915 incidents should be debated, it is also of
the opinion that such a debate should be held in an open forum, an
academic atmosphere, based on facts and research.
The diplomats said it is not the position of Israel that any such
research should be assisted by political discourse.
`I think it's fair to say that pro-Israel activists and supporters in
[US] Congress will now feel less reticence about backing measures
commemorating the genocide of Armenians,' Jonathon S. Tobin, senior
online editor of the conservative Commentary magazine, said.
He said most Jews, as well as most Americans in the past, were
strongly inclined to back the Armenians but many held back out of
respect for Turkey's alliance with Israel. Tobin noted that although
befuddled as most were by what he called the Turkish government's
aggressive stance on the issue, many thought that it made no sense to
worsen relations with an ally for the sake of a century-old crime
whose perpetrators are long dead.
He added that this led to some intense conflicts within the Jewish
community between those who thought a reluctance to back the Armenians
was cynical and those dedicated to fostering friendship with Turkey.
Soli Ã-zel from Ä°stanbul's Kadir Has University said the Israeli
Education Ministry earlier wanted to list the 1915 events as genocide
in history textbooks but that it was later decided not to do so. Ã-zel
warned that escalating the push of the Israeli lobby for recognition
of claims of an Armenian genocide won't be helpful to Turkish-Israeli
relations.
In recent years, former parliamentarian Haim Oron repeatedly attempted
to raise the issue with the Knesset's education panel, with government
officials moving to cancel the debate. Last year, amid deterioration
in Turkish-Israeli ties, Oron was granted approval to discuss the
alleged genocide in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee
meetings.
In 2007, the Knesset decided to shelve a proposal for a parliamentary
discussion on the Armenian genocide, in compliance with then Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert's request.
Kerim Balcı, editor-in-chief of Turkish Review, said that although the
Israeli initiative last week was faced again with the Israeli
government's intervention, the Jewish state would continue its bluff
with Turkey over the genocide claims.
`Armenian claims of genocide have been a long-standing instrument at
the hands of different Israeli governments against Turkey,' Balcı
said, adding that when former Turkish Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit in
2002 claimed that Israel carried out genocide against Palestinians,
the Israeli lobby in Washington stated that they would stop supporting
Turkey in their efforts to block Armenian genocide claims to be
debated in the US Congress.
Turkish-Israeli relations were badly damaged last year after Israeli
naval commandos stormed the Mavi Marmara carrying humanitarian aid to
Gaza to breach an Israeli-imposed naval blockade, leaving nine Turkish
civilians, including an American citizen, dead. Turkey demands an
official apology, compensation for families of the victims and an end
to the Gaza blockade. Israel offered only its regrets and says its
soldiers acted in self-defense.
Tobin stressed that it is needless to say that the Turkish
government's actions in the past few years have undermined the resolve
of those who had opposed Armenian genocide commemoration for the sake
of friendship with Turkey.
`Given the sense of betrayal that many pro-Israel Americans -- Jewish
and non-Jewish alike -- feel regarding Turkey's policies, the chances
that many will lift a finger to oppose an Armenian genocide measure
are slim. The moral dilemma that Turkey's close ties to Israel posed
for those considering the issue is now gone. Where this issue once was
considered one of the most agonizing decisions facing community
leaders, it is now an easy choice,' he concluded.
From: A. Papazian
Jan 1 2012
Israel's knesset maneuvering to exploit tragic 1915 events
1 January 2012 / GÃ-ZDE NUR DONAT / MAHÄ°R ZEYNALOV, Ä°STANBUL
The global Israeli lobby has significantly lessened its previously
staunch support of Turkey in preventing foreign parliaments from
labeling mass killings of Armenians at the hands of the Ottomans in
1915 as genocide, but there is little evidence that current tensions
between Turkey and Israel will ramp up the lobby's efforts to get the
Armenian massacres recognized as genocide.
Israeli parliametary commission started discussing Armenian killings
of genocide following a controversial bill the French parliament
endorsed last week.
This recent development reinforced an idea that the Israeli lobby is
supportive of the Armenian lobby in pushing parliaments to recognize
Armenian killings as genocide.
The lower house of the French parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor
of a bill that made it a crime to deny that the World War I-era mass
killings of Armenians constituted genocide. Turkey announced a set of
punitive measures against France, halting official contacts, recalling
its ambassador and canceling planned political, economic meetings.
Days later, a committee in the Israeli parliament began debating the
Armenian claims of genocide.
The Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee, headed by
lawmaker Alex Miller, began discussing the issue at a public hearing.
The session was also attended by Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin.
The committee considered a proposal to designate a memorial day for
the killings and recognize them as genocide.
Rivlin last Monday denied that the move was in response to events in
the United States or France and said the Knesset has been holding
similar discussions for years.
A strategy for the recognition of the `Armenian genocide' embraced by
the powerful Armenian lobby around the world has been pursued through
an array of parliamentary initiatives, mostly in Western nations as it
is an effective way of irritating Turkey. Support for Turkey by the
Israeli lobby against similar initiatives was based on the
anticipation that Turkey would maintain its benign foreign policy
toward Israel despite its brutal treatment of the Palestinians.
It has become increasingly clear that the Israeli lobby will cease its
support for Turkey in blocking recognition of Armenian claims of
genocide. But to what extent the Israeli lobby will be supportive of
the Armenian genocide claims still remains unknown.
Israeli diplomats in Ä°stanbul said that whereas Israel believes the
events surrounding the 1915 incidents should be debated, it is also of
the opinion that such a debate should be held in an open forum, an
academic atmosphere, based on facts and research.
The diplomats said it is not the position of Israel that any such
research should be assisted by political discourse.
`I think it's fair to say that pro-Israel activists and supporters in
[US] Congress will now feel less reticence about backing measures
commemorating the genocide of Armenians,' Jonathon S. Tobin, senior
online editor of the conservative Commentary magazine, said.
He said most Jews, as well as most Americans in the past, were
strongly inclined to back the Armenians but many held back out of
respect for Turkey's alliance with Israel. Tobin noted that although
befuddled as most were by what he called the Turkish government's
aggressive stance on the issue, many thought that it made no sense to
worsen relations with an ally for the sake of a century-old crime
whose perpetrators are long dead.
He added that this led to some intense conflicts within the Jewish
community between those who thought a reluctance to back the Armenians
was cynical and those dedicated to fostering friendship with Turkey.
Soli Ã-zel from Ä°stanbul's Kadir Has University said the Israeli
Education Ministry earlier wanted to list the 1915 events as genocide
in history textbooks but that it was later decided not to do so. Ã-zel
warned that escalating the push of the Israeli lobby for recognition
of claims of an Armenian genocide won't be helpful to Turkish-Israeli
relations.
In recent years, former parliamentarian Haim Oron repeatedly attempted
to raise the issue with the Knesset's education panel, with government
officials moving to cancel the debate. Last year, amid deterioration
in Turkish-Israeli ties, Oron was granted approval to discuss the
alleged genocide in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee
meetings.
In 2007, the Knesset decided to shelve a proposal for a parliamentary
discussion on the Armenian genocide, in compliance with then Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert's request.
Kerim Balcı, editor-in-chief of Turkish Review, said that although the
Israeli initiative last week was faced again with the Israeli
government's intervention, the Jewish state would continue its bluff
with Turkey over the genocide claims.
`Armenian claims of genocide have been a long-standing instrument at
the hands of different Israeli governments against Turkey,' Balcı
said, adding that when former Turkish Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit in
2002 claimed that Israel carried out genocide against Palestinians,
the Israeli lobby in Washington stated that they would stop supporting
Turkey in their efforts to block Armenian genocide claims to be
debated in the US Congress.
Turkish-Israeli relations were badly damaged last year after Israeli
naval commandos stormed the Mavi Marmara carrying humanitarian aid to
Gaza to breach an Israeli-imposed naval blockade, leaving nine Turkish
civilians, including an American citizen, dead. Turkey demands an
official apology, compensation for families of the victims and an end
to the Gaza blockade. Israel offered only its regrets and says its
soldiers acted in self-defense.
Tobin stressed that it is needless to say that the Turkish
government's actions in the past few years have undermined the resolve
of those who had opposed Armenian genocide commemoration for the sake
of friendship with Turkey.
`Given the sense of betrayal that many pro-Israel Americans -- Jewish
and non-Jewish alike -- feel regarding Turkey's policies, the chances
that many will lift a finger to oppose an Armenian genocide measure
are slim. The moral dilemma that Turkey's close ties to Israel posed
for those considering the issue is now gone. Where this issue once was
considered one of the most agonizing decisions facing community
leaders, it is now an easy choice,' he concluded.
From: A. Papazian