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TURKEY RELIEVED OBAMA DOES NOT SAY THE 'G' WORD
Al-Monitor
April 24 2013
By: Tulin Daloglu for Al-Monitor Turkey Pulse Posted on April 24.
"Today, we commemorate the Meds Yeghern and honor those who perished
in one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century," President
Barack Obama said today [April 24]. "Ninety-eight years ago, 1.5
million Armenians were massacred or marched to their deaths in the
final days of the Ottoman Empire." He then went on to say: "I have
consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915, and my view
has not changed. A full, frank and just acknowledgement of the facts
is in all of our interests. Nations grow stronger by acknowledging
and reckoning with painful elements of the past, thereby building a
foundation for a more just and tolerant future."
The Turkish media has expressed relief that Obama once again ignored
to use the word "genocide." However, the Turkish Foreign Ministry
released a written statement late evening [April 24] condemning
Obama's remarks. "We find [President Obama's] statement [on Armenian
Remembrance Day] troubling in all ways, and condemn it. These kinds
of one-sided statements under the influence of domestic politics and
with a selective sense of justice in interpreting a controversial
historical event [like this one] not only harm Turkish-US relations,
but also make it more difficult for Turks and Armenians to achieve
consensus over a just memory," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.
"We expect from an important ally such as the US not to further
complicate this matter, but instead to encourage the Armenian side
for a more realistic and negotiable scientific research and make
constructive contributions to resolve this issue." In other words,
neither Obama's remarks nor those on the Turkish side regarding
Armenian Remembrance Day - since the president came to office -
changed at all.
For at least the past three decades, since the White House decided to
release a statement in recognition of the Armenian Remembrance Day, one
of the main missions of the Turkish ambassadors and Turkey's lobbying
firms in the US capital have been to prevent the US president and
Congress from uttering the word "genocide" on this day. The last time
the House Committee on Foreign Affairs voted in favor of a resolution
on the subject in March 2010, Turkey withdrew its ambassador from
Washington. In 2006, when a similar resolution was discussed, Ankara
even threatened the US administration that if they were to recognize
what had happened to Armenians as "genocide," they would end the US
use of Incirlik air base, which served as a crucial supply line to
the troops on the Iraqi battlefield. Whatever the US presidents'
personal opinions on this issue have been, none have used the "g"
word in their official capacity. Ronald Reagan used it once in 1981,
but he refrained from citing it again while in office.
That aside, Turks have been fiercely engaged in controversial debates
for the past decade on their historical record - including what
happened to Armenians at the end of World War I. While there is a
unique polyphony in society over this sensitive topic - and Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government takes the credit
for allowing Turks to extend their limits of "freedom of speech" like
never before on such taboo issues - the ultimate question still remains
the same: Will Turkey recognize the events of 1915 as "genocide"?
"Depending on the time and the conjecture, the prime minister says
different things. One day he denies all possibilities that our
forefathers could have done such a thing. At other times, he sounds
different," Ferda Balancar, a correspondent for the Turkish-Armenian
weekly AGOS, and coordinator of the Oral History Project at the Hrant
Dink Foundation, told Al-Monitor. "Although the official Turkish
position is not yet getting closer to us in a pace we wish, there
is nevertheless a change [for the better]. I'm more optimist for the
near future ...as the centennial nears by."
Balancar explains that Erdogan's government has taken a more critical
look at the Young Turks era, or the single party period [1923-1952],
which only helps society as a whole, including its minorities, to
overcome the horrors of the past, and start healing. "It's not only
the government approach though," Balancar said. "In the past decade,
Hrant Dink [the editor in chief of AGOS] really worked hard to raise
awareness about this issue and his assassination revoked a very
sincere reaction by the people."
"I may see myself as frightened as a pigeon, but I know that in this
country people do not touch pigeons," Dink wrote in his last column in
January 2007, where people learnt that he had been receiving serious
death threats for some time. He became the first Armenian-Turk to
fall victim to a political murder. His assassination took Turks to
the streets in massive numbers to support "freedom of speech" for the
first time ever in the republic's history. Since then, talking about
the events of 1915 as being "genocide" is no taboo in this country.
And if Balancar proves to be right, and that the government recognizes
at some time in the near future the events of 1915 as "genocide,"
two things will be certain: Americans will be relieved that this is no
longer an issue in their bilateral ties with Turkey, and that Turkey
won't be spending millions of dollars to lobbying firms to defeat
resolutions in Congress on this issue. If the Erdogan government,
however, has no willingness to change the state policy on this
controversial issue, it's evident that it won't get any easier to
defeat potential upcoming resolutions, or to prevent Obama from
uttering the word "genocide" in 2015.
Tulin Daloglu is a columnist for Al-Monitor's Turkey Pulse. She has
written extensively for various Turkish and American publications,
including The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, The
Middle East Times, Foreign Policy, The Daily Star (Lebanon) and the
SAIS Turkey Analyst Report. She also had a regular column at The
Washington Times for almost four years.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/04/armenian-genocide-obama-anniversary-speech.html
From: Baghdasarian
Al-Monitor
April 24 2013
By: Tulin Daloglu for Al-Monitor Turkey Pulse Posted on April 24.
"Today, we commemorate the Meds Yeghern and honor those who perished
in one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century," President
Barack Obama said today [April 24]. "Ninety-eight years ago, 1.5
million Armenians were massacred or marched to their deaths in the
final days of the Ottoman Empire." He then went on to say: "I have
consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915, and my view
has not changed. A full, frank and just acknowledgement of the facts
is in all of our interests. Nations grow stronger by acknowledging
and reckoning with painful elements of the past, thereby building a
foundation for a more just and tolerant future."
The Turkish media has expressed relief that Obama once again ignored
to use the word "genocide." However, the Turkish Foreign Ministry
released a written statement late evening [April 24] condemning
Obama's remarks. "We find [President Obama's] statement [on Armenian
Remembrance Day] troubling in all ways, and condemn it. These kinds
of one-sided statements under the influence of domestic politics and
with a selective sense of justice in interpreting a controversial
historical event [like this one] not only harm Turkish-US relations,
but also make it more difficult for Turks and Armenians to achieve
consensus over a just memory," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.
"We expect from an important ally such as the US not to further
complicate this matter, but instead to encourage the Armenian side
for a more realistic and negotiable scientific research and make
constructive contributions to resolve this issue." In other words,
neither Obama's remarks nor those on the Turkish side regarding
Armenian Remembrance Day - since the president came to office -
changed at all.
For at least the past three decades, since the White House decided to
release a statement in recognition of the Armenian Remembrance Day, one
of the main missions of the Turkish ambassadors and Turkey's lobbying
firms in the US capital have been to prevent the US president and
Congress from uttering the word "genocide" on this day. The last time
the House Committee on Foreign Affairs voted in favor of a resolution
on the subject in March 2010, Turkey withdrew its ambassador from
Washington. In 2006, when a similar resolution was discussed, Ankara
even threatened the US administration that if they were to recognize
what had happened to Armenians as "genocide," they would end the US
use of Incirlik air base, which served as a crucial supply line to
the troops on the Iraqi battlefield. Whatever the US presidents'
personal opinions on this issue have been, none have used the "g"
word in their official capacity. Ronald Reagan used it once in 1981,
but he refrained from citing it again while in office.
That aside, Turks have been fiercely engaged in controversial debates
for the past decade on their historical record - including what
happened to Armenians at the end of World War I. While there is a
unique polyphony in society over this sensitive topic - and Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government takes the credit
for allowing Turks to extend their limits of "freedom of speech" like
never before on such taboo issues - the ultimate question still remains
the same: Will Turkey recognize the events of 1915 as "genocide"?
"Depending on the time and the conjecture, the prime minister says
different things. One day he denies all possibilities that our
forefathers could have done such a thing. At other times, he sounds
different," Ferda Balancar, a correspondent for the Turkish-Armenian
weekly AGOS, and coordinator of the Oral History Project at the Hrant
Dink Foundation, told Al-Monitor. "Although the official Turkish
position is not yet getting closer to us in a pace we wish, there
is nevertheless a change [for the better]. I'm more optimist for the
near future ...as the centennial nears by."
Balancar explains that Erdogan's government has taken a more critical
look at the Young Turks era, or the single party period [1923-1952],
which only helps society as a whole, including its minorities, to
overcome the horrors of the past, and start healing. "It's not only
the government approach though," Balancar said. "In the past decade,
Hrant Dink [the editor in chief of AGOS] really worked hard to raise
awareness about this issue and his assassination revoked a very
sincere reaction by the people."
"I may see myself as frightened as a pigeon, but I know that in this
country people do not touch pigeons," Dink wrote in his last column in
January 2007, where people learnt that he had been receiving serious
death threats for some time. He became the first Armenian-Turk to
fall victim to a political murder. His assassination took Turks to
the streets in massive numbers to support "freedom of speech" for the
first time ever in the republic's history. Since then, talking about
the events of 1915 as being "genocide" is no taboo in this country.
And if Balancar proves to be right, and that the government recognizes
at some time in the near future the events of 1915 as "genocide,"
two things will be certain: Americans will be relieved that this is no
longer an issue in their bilateral ties with Turkey, and that Turkey
won't be spending millions of dollars to lobbying firms to defeat
resolutions in Congress on this issue. If the Erdogan government,
however, has no willingness to change the state policy on this
controversial issue, it's evident that it won't get any easier to
defeat potential upcoming resolutions, or to prevent Obama from
uttering the word "genocide" in 2015.
Tulin Daloglu is a columnist for Al-Monitor's Turkey Pulse. She has
written extensively for various Turkish and American publications,
including The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, The
Middle East Times, Foreign Policy, The Daily Star (Lebanon) and the
SAIS Turkey Analyst Report. She also had a regular column at The
Washington Times for almost four years.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/04/armenian-genocide-obama-anniversary-speech.html
From: Baghdasarian