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HAMPARIAN: TURKISH-ARMENIAN TIES REQUIRE TRUTH AND JUSTICE
by Aram Hamparian
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2012/10/26/turkish-armenian-ties-require-truth-and-justice/
October 26, 2012
Track 2 Diplomacy Hits Bottom with NY Times Revelations of 'Cheese
Diplomacy' Despite the best efforts of Ankara and its allies to
get us to buy into their alternate reality, the fact remains that
Turkey-Armenia relations remain defined by the massive demographic,
geographic, economic, security and other modern-day consequences of
Turkey's still unpunished genocide of the Armenian nation.
According to The New York Times, their latest U.S. tax-payer funded
diversion - laughable were it not so tragic - actually involves
"cheese-diplomacy."
Sadly, for us, as Americans, rather than honestly confronting this
horrific injustice, the U.S. government continues to be held hostage by
Ankara's denial of this crime. Instead of simply rejecting Turkey's
gag-rule once and for all, our White House and State Department
have spent decades playing tortured word games, undertaking
one fake Track 2 effort after another to somehow avoid doing the
obvious, speaking honestly about this inconvenient but inescapable
truth. According to The New York Times, their latest U.S. tax-payer
funded diversion-laughable were it not so tragic-actually involves
"cheese-diplomacy."
Now, Turkey's motives are clear: Using the full measure of its
geo-political and public relations leverage to prevent other nations
and global civil society from addressing the genocide in its proper
context as an unpunished crime, requiring a forceful international
response and a truthful, just, and comprehensive resolution.
Like an unrepentant criminal seeking to escape the wages of his sin
while keeping the fruits of his crime, Turkey strives tirelessly to
get the international community to buy into its redefinition of this
international crime into a bilateral conflict.
Why? Clearly not because they seek the truth or thirst for justice.
Ankara simply wants this issue to disappear forever. By seeking
to restrict discussion of the Armenian Genocide to bilateral talks
between two nations of vastly disparate power - all the more so as a
result of the Genocide - Turkey figures it can-outside of the glare
of international scrutiny-arm-twist Armenia into silence and ultimate
acceptance of Ankara's consolidation of its genocidal gains.
Internationally, Ankara reinforces its pressure against Armenia by
using threats, bribes, and diversionary tactics (such as TARC and
the Protocols) with other countries, hoping that the international
community will absolve itself of its moral, civic, political, legal,
and international responsibilities to truthfully and justly resolve the
Armenian Genocide. At the same time, Ankara is tirelessly recruiting
Armenians themselves-even if only token ones-to buy into Ankara's
narrative of the Genocide as a bilateral conflict. This, as we all
know from Armenia's long history under Ottoman rule, is a classic
divide-and-conquer approach that they have frequently used against
Armenians. Ankara's aims to deter third-party recognition, using the
patently false claim that progress is around the corner, and should not
be jeopardized by further international acknowledgement of this crime.
The public record shows that U.S.-funding to think tanks and
publications in Armenia and in our Diaspora is often used to advance
efforts to create a false impression of meaningful Armenian civil
society support for astro-turf initiatives (such as TARC and the
Protocols) that harm Armenian interests and compromise Armenian
rights. The fact is that U.S. State Department-funded "grassroots"
efforts to promote Turkish-Armenian dialogue are neither grassroots
nor authentic. It is precisely because these transparently fake
efforts-cheese-based or otherwise-are so widely recognized by Armenians
as obviously aligned against the interests of truth and fairness,
that sustaining them requires active diplomatic life-support and
millions of dollars in government backing.
To the credit of Armenians worldwide, we have demonstrated a normal,
healthy common-sense response in seeing through the interests behind
TARC and the Protocols, rejecting, on principle, cynical campaigns
that seek to enlist us as enablers of Ankara's effort to consolidate
the material, moral, geographic, demographic, economic, and other
benefits of the Armenian Genocide.
The moral American stand on the Armenian Genocide is a simple one:
Truth The only workable U.S. policy for improving Armenian-Turkish
ties is just as simple: Justice.
We don't need Track 1, Track 2, or even a Cheese Track. We need a
Truth Track.
So, rather than wasting more years, more tax dollars, and more of
America's moral standing by aiding Ankara's evasion of responsibility
for the Armenian Genocide, the United States should press for a fair
and full resolution of the crime of the Armenian Genocide - the only
meaningful basis for improved Armenian-Turkish ties.
From: A. Papazian
by Aram Hamparian
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2012/10/26/turkish-armenian-ties-require-truth-and-justice/
October 26, 2012
Track 2 Diplomacy Hits Bottom with NY Times Revelations of 'Cheese
Diplomacy' Despite the best efforts of Ankara and its allies to
get us to buy into their alternate reality, the fact remains that
Turkey-Armenia relations remain defined by the massive demographic,
geographic, economic, security and other modern-day consequences of
Turkey's still unpunished genocide of the Armenian nation.
According to The New York Times, their latest U.S. tax-payer funded
diversion - laughable were it not so tragic - actually involves
"cheese-diplomacy."
Sadly, for us, as Americans, rather than honestly confronting this
horrific injustice, the U.S. government continues to be held hostage by
Ankara's denial of this crime. Instead of simply rejecting Turkey's
gag-rule once and for all, our White House and State Department
have spent decades playing tortured word games, undertaking
one fake Track 2 effort after another to somehow avoid doing the
obvious, speaking honestly about this inconvenient but inescapable
truth. According to The New York Times, their latest U.S. tax-payer
funded diversion-laughable were it not so tragic-actually involves
"cheese-diplomacy."
Now, Turkey's motives are clear: Using the full measure of its
geo-political and public relations leverage to prevent other nations
and global civil society from addressing the genocide in its proper
context as an unpunished crime, requiring a forceful international
response and a truthful, just, and comprehensive resolution.
Like an unrepentant criminal seeking to escape the wages of his sin
while keeping the fruits of his crime, Turkey strives tirelessly to
get the international community to buy into its redefinition of this
international crime into a bilateral conflict.
Why? Clearly not because they seek the truth or thirst for justice.
Ankara simply wants this issue to disappear forever. By seeking
to restrict discussion of the Armenian Genocide to bilateral talks
between two nations of vastly disparate power - all the more so as a
result of the Genocide - Turkey figures it can-outside of the glare
of international scrutiny-arm-twist Armenia into silence and ultimate
acceptance of Ankara's consolidation of its genocidal gains.
Internationally, Ankara reinforces its pressure against Armenia by
using threats, bribes, and diversionary tactics (such as TARC and
the Protocols) with other countries, hoping that the international
community will absolve itself of its moral, civic, political, legal,
and international responsibilities to truthfully and justly resolve the
Armenian Genocide. At the same time, Ankara is tirelessly recruiting
Armenians themselves-even if only token ones-to buy into Ankara's
narrative of the Genocide as a bilateral conflict. This, as we all
know from Armenia's long history under Ottoman rule, is a classic
divide-and-conquer approach that they have frequently used against
Armenians. Ankara's aims to deter third-party recognition, using the
patently false claim that progress is around the corner, and should not
be jeopardized by further international acknowledgement of this crime.
The public record shows that U.S.-funding to think tanks and
publications in Armenia and in our Diaspora is often used to advance
efforts to create a false impression of meaningful Armenian civil
society support for astro-turf initiatives (such as TARC and the
Protocols) that harm Armenian interests and compromise Armenian
rights. The fact is that U.S. State Department-funded "grassroots"
efforts to promote Turkish-Armenian dialogue are neither grassroots
nor authentic. It is precisely because these transparently fake
efforts-cheese-based or otherwise-are so widely recognized by Armenians
as obviously aligned against the interests of truth and fairness,
that sustaining them requires active diplomatic life-support and
millions of dollars in government backing.
To the credit of Armenians worldwide, we have demonstrated a normal,
healthy common-sense response in seeing through the interests behind
TARC and the Protocols, rejecting, on principle, cynical campaigns
that seek to enlist us as enablers of Ankara's effort to consolidate
the material, moral, geographic, demographic, economic, and other
benefits of the Armenian Genocide.
The moral American stand on the Armenian Genocide is a simple one:
Truth The only workable U.S. policy for improving Armenian-Turkish
ties is just as simple: Justice.
We don't need Track 1, Track 2, or even a Cheese Track. We need a
Truth Track.
So, rather than wasting more years, more tax dollars, and more of
America's moral standing by aiding Ankara's evasion of responsibility
for the Armenian Genocide, the United States should press for a fair
and full resolution of the crime of the Armenian Genocide - the only
meaningful basis for improved Armenian-Turkish ties.
From: A. Papazian