Human rights overwhelmed the Turkish blackmail

PanARMENIAN.Net - Shortly before the discussion of the document in Congress President George Bush himself made a speech, who expressed his fears about the "serious consequences in America's relations with one of the key allies regarding NATO and the war with terrorism." The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdoghan also warned that passing of such a bill "will strain the relations of the USA with one of its most important allies in the region." The US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also expressed her concern: "I have no wish to forget what happened, but the adoption of the Resolution at this time will create problems for all we have so far tried to do in the Middle East," quotes the Italian newspaper La Stampa.

At first sight it was something unbelievable, morality overwhelmed politics. Moreover, USA made it quite clear to Turkey, that no matter how important this country is to America for the sake of its national interests, no one can dictate the rules of the game to the American congressmen. As for Ankara, it failed to count one thing - President of the USA doesn't have the right to interfere in Congress' affairs. He cannot even come to Congress without the agreement of the congressmen of both Houses. True, President of the USA or someone from his Administration, including the State Department, may call the Speaker of the House and bringing serious arguments may convince not to put the issue to vote. This happened more than once, though. Turkey obviously didn't take into consideration who it is dealing with. Lately the Armenian Community in the USA put a stress on the human rights, which are being violated by means of the Genocide. And the USA, as a defender of democracy and human values, can't put its image in danger. Turkey will not resolve to taking any serious anti-American measures in any case, but will certainly take advantage of the Resolution to undertake actions in Northern Iraq and secondly to incite all its allies in the Islamic World against Armenia. However, they are not large in number. And it will be rather unreasonable from Turkey to irritate the nationalists calling upon "teaching a lesson" to the Armenian Community of Istanbul. If it happens, the whole world then will say that the Turks haven't changed and that the present Turkey doesn't differ from the Ottoman Empire at all. But the most interesting thing is that in Turkey no one says that the adopted document is only "the opinion of the House", which is optional. Perhaps it is simply useful.

"Today we are not considering whether the Armenian people were persecuted and died in huge numbers at the hands of Ottoman troops in the early 20th Century. There is unanimity in the Congress and across the country that these atrocities took place. If the resolution before us stated that fact alone, it would pass unanimously. The controversy lies in whether to make it United States policy at this moment in history to apply a single word - genocide - to encompass this enormous blot on human history," said the chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs opening the hearings of the Resolution 106 about the Armenian Genocide. He quoted Henry Morgenthau, the US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during World War I: "I am confident that the whole history of the human race contains no such horrible episode as this. The great massacres and persecutions of the past seem almost insignificant when compared with the sufferings of the Armenian race in 1915."

Lantos reminded that among all the US Presidents Ronald Reagan only called the events of 1915 "The Armenian Genocide" in his annual message on April 24. "Subsequent Presidents -- George Herbert Walker Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, have refrained from using the word out of deference to Turkish sentiments on the matter. Another thing is that U.S. troops are currently engaged in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They depend on a major Turkish airbase Incerlik for access to the fighting fronts, and it serves as a critical part of the supply lines to those fronts. A growing majority in Congress, and I am among them, strongly oppose continued U.S. troop involvement in the civil war in Iraq, but none of us wants to see those supply lines threatened or abruptly cut. We have to weigh the desire to express our solidarity with the Armenian people and to condemn this historic nightmare through the use of the word "genocide" against the risk that it could cause young men and women in the uniform of the United States armed services to pay an even heavier price than they are currently paying. This is a vote of conscience, and the Committee will work its will," said Tom Lantos in conclusion.