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Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
April 26 2014
The fine print of the White House statement
President Obama's statement on the Armenian Remembrance Day this year
is longer than usual. As a reporter that has read his statements for
the past six years, I can say that most of the wording has remained
the same. But there are a lot new developments this year. And Prime
Minister ErdoÄ?an's pre-emptive statement of condolence is
unfortunately not one of them.
President Obama has nicely inserted the term `Meds Yeghern' into the
terminology, ever since his first statement on the issue after he
became president. Even for scholars that defend opposing views on the
genocide issue, this is an important step. For us, Turkish citizens,
the events that took place in 1915 are nothing less than a big
catastrophe that killed hundreds of thousands of our ancestors. They
were, after all, our ancestors too. Obama's move has made all of us
face the fact sometimes naming something in its native language, and
in a naive way can be more powerful that labeling it with a slogan.
Obama's statement makes clear once again that his views that Armenians
faced genocide have not changed and acknowledgement of the facts makes
Turkey stronger. The word `acknowledgement' has also come up in the
Department of State's spokeswoman Jen Psaki's statement. The U.S. now
sees Prime Minister ErdoÄ?an's statement as `accepting the facts and
events of 1915' which may/may not create trouble in the future.
Under the heavy shadow of the Syrian crisis, a new element has been
injected into the White House statement on Armenia. And this seems to
be the biggest surprise factor. The reference to the American
Committee for Syrian and Armenian Relief, a relief organization now
known as the Near East Foundation, is a new and big element in the
statement. The NEF is not just an Armenian Lobby group, but a very old
(founded in 1915) and respected relief organization that funds
humanitarian efforts in the entire Middle East. The NEF had a budget
of $70 million even in 1920 and the last U.S. Ambassador to the
Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau, sat on its board. It received
support from various American presidents. Ironically, The NEF does not
use the word `genocide' on its website, which signals an important
distinction among other Armenian Groups.
The NEF website statement gives us an idea about the scale of
suffering: `This money was used to save the lives of at least a
million people amid the wreckage of the Ottoman Empire; treat more
than 6 million patients in NEF-run clinics throughout the region;
establish orphanages and provide education to over a 100,000 Armenian
children orphaned in the upheaval.'
By referring to the NEF, the White House is also signaling Ankara
where to go for appeal. The NEF in the U.S. probably has the largest
database of Armenian and other refugees and their grandchildren that
left the Ottoman territories for America. The White House is also
signaling that Turkey's hospitality towards old Armenians that had to
flee Kassab in Syria does not go unnoticed, but Turkey's support for
the extreme Sunni groups, arm shipments in Syria are still troubling.
The White House statement came late in the afternoon in Turkish time.
President Obama and his NSC team were all in Japan for an official
visit. This makes obvious that the statement had been written long
before Prime Minister ErdoÄ?an's pre-emptive strike, yet Washington
probably debated parts of it. The lack of a referral to ErdoÄ?an's
words in the White House statement is a signal to Ankara that `actions
should speak louder than mere words.' So all the headlines that cheer
for the prime minister and Foreign Minister DavutoÄ?lu's statements
that refer to `sending the ball to the other side's court' does not
mean anything outside of Turkey's borders. As parliamentary speaker
Cemil Çiçek has said, `The aim of 2015 is convincing world Parliaments
about the Genocide' and a mere condolence would not do the trick.
Ankara has to step up to the challenge and start normalization.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/the-fine-print-of-the-white-house-statement.aspx?PageID=238&NID=65568&NewsCatID=515
April 26 2014
The fine print of the White House statement
President Obama's statement on the Armenian Remembrance Day this year
is longer than usual. As a reporter that has read his statements for
the past six years, I can say that most of the wording has remained
the same. But there are a lot new developments this year. And Prime
Minister ErdoÄ?an's pre-emptive statement of condolence is
unfortunately not one of them.
President Obama has nicely inserted the term `Meds Yeghern' into the
terminology, ever since his first statement on the issue after he
became president. Even for scholars that defend opposing views on the
genocide issue, this is an important step. For us, Turkish citizens,
the events that took place in 1915 are nothing less than a big
catastrophe that killed hundreds of thousands of our ancestors. They
were, after all, our ancestors too. Obama's move has made all of us
face the fact sometimes naming something in its native language, and
in a naive way can be more powerful that labeling it with a slogan.
Obama's statement makes clear once again that his views that Armenians
faced genocide have not changed and acknowledgement of the facts makes
Turkey stronger. The word `acknowledgement' has also come up in the
Department of State's spokeswoman Jen Psaki's statement. The U.S. now
sees Prime Minister ErdoÄ?an's statement as `accepting the facts and
events of 1915' which may/may not create trouble in the future.
Under the heavy shadow of the Syrian crisis, a new element has been
injected into the White House statement on Armenia. And this seems to
be the biggest surprise factor. The reference to the American
Committee for Syrian and Armenian Relief, a relief organization now
known as the Near East Foundation, is a new and big element in the
statement. The NEF is not just an Armenian Lobby group, but a very old
(founded in 1915) and respected relief organization that funds
humanitarian efforts in the entire Middle East. The NEF had a budget
of $70 million even in 1920 and the last U.S. Ambassador to the
Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau, sat on its board. It received
support from various American presidents. Ironically, The NEF does not
use the word `genocide' on its website, which signals an important
distinction among other Armenian Groups.
The NEF website statement gives us an idea about the scale of
suffering: `This money was used to save the lives of at least a
million people amid the wreckage of the Ottoman Empire; treat more
than 6 million patients in NEF-run clinics throughout the region;
establish orphanages and provide education to over a 100,000 Armenian
children orphaned in the upheaval.'
By referring to the NEF, the White House is also signaling Ankara
where to go for appeal. The NEF in the U.S. probably has the largest
database of Armenian and other refugees and their grandchildren that
left the Ottoman territories for America. The White House is also
signaling that Turkey's hospitality towards old Armenians that had to
flee Kassab in Syria does not go unnoticed, but Turkey's support for
the extreme Sunni groups, arm shipments in Syria are still troubling.
The White House statement came late in the afternoon in Turkish time.
President Obama and his NSC team were all in Japan for an official
visit. This makes obvious that the statement had been written long
before Prime Minister ErdoÄ?an's pre-emptive strike, yet Washington
probably debated parts of it. The lack of a referral to ErdoÄ?an's
words in the White House statement is a signal to Ankara that `actions
should speak louder than mere words.' So all the headlines that cheer
for the prime minister and Foreign Minister DavutoÄ?lu's statements
that refer to `sending the ball to the other side's court' does not
mean anything outside of Turkey's borders. As parliamentary speaker
Cemil Çiçek has said, `The aim of 2015 is convincing world Parliaments
about the Genocide' and a mere condolence would not do the trick.
Ankara has to step up to the challenge and start normalization.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/the-fine-print-of-the-white-house-statement.aspx?PageID=238&NID=65568&NewsCatID=515