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TURKEY ANGERED BY PETITION ON WHITE HOUSE WEBSITE
Syrian refugees wait to cross the border to Turkey at Bab El-Hawa on
the outskirts of Idlib, near the Syrian-Turkey border, Jan. 13, 2013.
(photo by REUTERS/Abdalghne Karoof)
By: Tulin Daloglu for Al-Monitor Turkey Pulse. posted on January 21.
On Jan. 5, a petition appeared on the White House website calling on
the government of Turkey to open its border with Armenia for refugees
from Syria.
About This Article Summary : A petition on the White House website
calling for Turkey to open its borders to Armenian-Syrian refugees
has provoked a reaction from the Turkish Foreign Ministry as the
Syrian crisis now appears linked to other issues in US-Turkey-Armenia
relations, writes Tulin Daloglu.
Author: Tulin Daloglu posted on : January 21 2013
"The road from Syria to Armenia goes through Turkey, which closed its
border with Armenia in 1993. It creates a big problem for Armenian
refugees," the petition reads. "Thus, we are kindly asking to call
Turkey to open the land border with Armenia (at least, for refugees)
without any preconditions. There shouldn't be closed borders in the
21st century."
The petition is one of many posted on the White House website on a wide
range of issues. "The right to petition the government is guaranteed
by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution," the White
House explains. "If a petition gets enough support, White House staff
will review it, ensure it's sent to the appropriate policy experts
and issue an official response."
This petition requires 25,000 signatures by Feb. 4 to be worthy of
a White House review, and had only received 708 by the time this
article was written.
Although the petition is not a declaration of US policy, and unlikely
to get enough signatures to even motivate a review by the White House,
the Turkish Foreign Ministry nonetheless felt the need to respond.
The ministry's statement categorically rejected any implied accusation
by this petition that the closed status of the Turkey-Armenian border
jeopardizes the lives of Armenian-Syrians in war-torn Syria, where the
United Nations estimates more than 60,000 lives have already been lost.
"It's worth stressing that Turkey is providing shelter to more than
150,000 Syrians without any discrimination based on their religion,
language, race or ethnic origin, and that a large number of Armenians
fleeing Syria have already reached Armenia in a variety of ways -
including passage from Turkey," the statement read.
Turkey closed the border after Armenia's attack on Kelbajar,
Azerbaijan, in 1993, a key development in the war over Nagorno Karabagh
and a source of continued tension.
Whether Turkey did the right thing in closing the border at the
time as a gesture of solidarity with Baku is a different subject
from that of accusing Turkey of magnifying the risks to the lives of
Syrian Armenians.
The Turkish Red Crescent Society's joint efforts since December 2012
with the Armenian Patriarchate in Istanbul in providing humanitarian
aid to the Armenians in Syria has gone unrecognized.
"Those in Syria are Anatolian Armenians," stressed Cengiz Aktar,
a highly respected associate professor in Bahcesehir University's
Political Science department. "Turkey needs to provide them special and
unique assurances when they arrive here - including the psychological
element. They're the grandsons and granddaughters of those who fled
Turkey during World War I."
Speaking to Al-Monitor on the condition that they remain anonymous,
Turkish authorities said, "If there is a request, Turkey is ready to
provide a separate camp for the Armenia- Syrians. But we haven't yet
received any demand that will make us consider this."
They added: "And if there is a large number of Armenians from Syria
fleeing to Turkey, Ankara will most likely allow them a safe passage
to Armenia. So far, however, we have not yet seen such demand from
the Armenian community in Syria." Finally, the same Turkish sources
tell Al-Monitor that, "Although the petition claims there are 200,000
Armenians left in Syria, no one can really know for sure how many
Armenians are actually now remaining in the country."
Both Turks and Armenians want to reconcile, but they seem to be in it
for the wrong reasons. Since Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
and Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian signed two protocols
in 2009 in an attempt to normalize their relationship, with strong
US support, the initiative simply went dead without the protocols
being ratified in the respective parliaments.
Even the second-track diplomacy is stalled because Armenian NGOs
don't want to engage in talks with their Turkish partners that may
lead to the perception that they have softened their position on the
recognition of the events of 1915 as "genocide" just two years before
the centennial anniversary. And the Turkish government has simply
lost momentum after defeating the last resolution at the US Congress
in 2010. Finally, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said
he won't bring those protocols to a parliamentary debate until the
Nagorno-Karabagh issue is resolved.
While the closure of the border with Armenia had nothing to do with
the 1915 events, many Turks now believe these two issues are linked.
Certainly, Armenians make this linkage. Although there is now an open
debate in Turkey about the Armenian issue, and some Turks openly use
the word "genocide" to define the fate of the Armenians on the last
days of the Ottoman Empire, many Turks remain convinced that accepting
the genocide label will touch off generations of reparations claims.
More importantly, many Turks still believe that during World War I,
the Ottomans criminally neglected their own population as well,
and that the Armenians were hardly the only ones to suffer.
With only two years left before the centennial anniversary of 1915,
Turkey's sensitivity to the implications of any effort in the US
even tangentially connected to the debate over genocide recognition
may explain why the Turkish Foreign Ministry would bother responding
to a petition by private US citizens that at present has only 700
signatures and may not even merit a White House review.
Today, Turks see the Armenian situation in Syria as no different from
any other civilians trying to survive in a war zone, and Ankara is
doing what it can to assist all refugees, including Armenian-Syrians.
It seems, however, that the perennial debate over US recognition
of the Armenian genocide is unavoidably linked to other issues in
Turkey-Armenia relations and now the Syrian crisis.
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.
Read more:
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/01/turkey-armenia-genocide-obama.html#ixzz2IeS1wwl2
From: Baghdasarian
Syrian refugees wait to cross the border to Turkey at Bab El-Hawa on
the outskirts of Idlib, near the Syrian-Turkey border, Jan. 13, 2013.
(photo by REUTERS/Abdalghne Karoof)
By: Tulin Daloglu for Al-Monitor Turkey Pulse. posted on January 21.
On Jan. 5, a petition appeared on the White House website calling on
the government of Turkey to open its border with Armenia for refugees
from Syria.
About This Article Summary : A petition on the White House website
calling for Turkey to open its borders to Armenian-Syrian refugees
has provoked a reaction from the Turkish Foreign Ministry as the
Syrian crisis now appears linked to other issues in US-Turkey-Armenia
relations, writes Tulin Daloglu.
Author: Tulin Daloglu posted on : January 21 2013
"The road from Syria to Armenia goes through Turkey, which closed its
border with Armenia in 1993. It creates a big problem for Armenian
refugees," the petition reads. "Thus, we are kindly asking to call
Turkey to open the land border with Armenia (at least, for refugees)
without any preconditions. There shouldn't be closed borders in the
21st century."
The petition is one of many posted on the White House website on a wide
range of issues. "The right to petition the government is guaranteed
by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution," the White
House explains. "If a petition gets enough support, White House staff
will review it, ensure it's sent to the appropriate policy experts
and issue an official response."
This petition requires 25,000 signatures by Feb. 4 to be worthy of
a White House review, and had only received 708 by the time this
article was written.
Although the petition is not a declaration of US policy, and unlikely
to get enough signatures to even motivate a review by the White House,
the Turkish Foreign Ministry nonetheless felt the need to respond.
The ministry's statement categorically rejected any implied accusation
by this petition that the closed status of the Turkey-Armenian border
jeopardizes the lives of Armenian-Syrians in war-torn Syria, where the
United Nations estimates more than 60,000 lives have already been lost.
"It's worth stressing that Turkey is providing shelter to more than
150,000 Syrians without any discrimination based on their religion,
language, race or ethnic origin, and that a large number of Armenians
fleeing Syria have already reached Armenia in a variety of ways -
including passage from Turkey," the statement read.
Turkey closed the border after Armenia's attack on Kelbajar,
Azerbaijan, in 1993, a key development in the war over Nagorno Karabagh
and a source of continued tension.
Whether Turkey did the right thing in closing the border at the
time as a gesture of solidarity with Baku is a different subject
from that of accusing Turkey of magnifying the risks to the lives of
Syrian Armenians.
The Turkish Red Crescent Society's joint efforts since December 2012
with the Armenian Patriarchate in Istanbul in providing humanitarian
aid to the Armenians in Syria has gone unrecognized.
"Those in Syria are Anatolian Armenians," stressed Cengiz Aktar,
a highly respected associate professor in Bahcesehir University's
Political Science department. "Turkey needs to provide them special and
unique assurances when they arrive here - including the psychological
element. They're the grandsons and granddaughters of those who fled
Turkey during World War I."
Speaking to Al-Monitor on the condition that they remain anonymous,
Turkish authorities said, "If there is a request, Turkey is ready to
provide a separate camp for the Armenia- Syrians. But we haven't yet
received any demand that will make us consider this."
They added: "And if there is a large number of Armenians from Syria
fleeing to Turkey, Ankara will most likely allow them a safe passage
to Armenia. So far, however, we have not yet seen such demand from
the Armenian community in Syria." Finally, the same Turkish sources
tell Al-Monitor that, "Although the petition claims there are 200,000
Armenians left in Syria, no one can really know for sure how many
Armenians are actually now remaining in the country."
Both Turks and Armenians want to reconcile, but they seem to be in it
for the wrong reasons. Since Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
and Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian signed two protocols
in 2009 in an attempt to normalize their relationship, with strong
US support, the initiative simply went dead without the protocols
being ratified in the respective parliaments.
Even the second-track diplomacy is stalled because Armenian NGOs
don't want to engage in talks with their Turkish partners that may
lead to the perception that they have softened their position on the
recognition of the events of 1915 as "genocide" just two years before
the centennial anniversary. And the Turkish government has simply
lost momentum after defeating the last resolution at the US Congress
in 2010. Finally, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said
he won't bring those protocols to a parliamentary debate until the
Nagorno-Karabagh issue is resolved.
While the closure of the border with Armenia had nothing to do with
the 1915 events, many Turks now believe these two issues are linked.
Certainly, Armenians make this linkage. Although there is now an open
debate in Turkey about the Armenian issue, and some Turks openly use
the word "genocide" to define the fate of the Armenians on the last
days of the Ottoman Empire, many Turks remain convinced that accepting
the genocide label will touch off generations of reparations claims.
More importantly, many Turks still believe that during World War I,
the Ottomans criminally neglected their own population as well,
and that the Armenians were hardly the only ones to suffer.
With only two years left before the centennial anniversary of 1915,
Turkey's sensitivity to the implications of any effort in the US
even tangentially connected to the debate over genocide recognition
may explain why the Turkish Foreign Ministry would bother responding
to a petition by private US citizens that at present has only 700
signatures and may not even merit a White House review.
Today, Turks see the Armenian situation in Syria as no different from
any other civilians trying to survive in a war zone, and Ankara is
doing what it can to assist all refugees, including Armenian-Syrians.
It seems, however, that the perennial debate over US recognition
of the Armenian genocide is unavoidably linked to other issues in
Turkey-Armenia relations and now the Syrian crisis.
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.
Read more:
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/01/turkey-armenia-genocide-obama.html#ixzz2IeS1wwl2
From: Baghdasarian