Israel's only impediment to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide is politics

PanARMENIAN.Net - Earlier Foxman had mentioned, that "the Turks and Armenians must once again look back to their past. The Jewish Community, as well as the US Congress mustn't be the judge in this story". Besides ADL, together with the American Jewish Committee, B'nai B'rith and Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) have lately addressed a letter to the US Congress from the part of the Jewish Community in Turkey, which is against the adoption of Resolution 106 about the Armenian Genocide by the US Congress.

Jewish Organizations in the USA for many years function within the course of the Turkish public policy denying the Armenian Genocide. The truth is though, that a number of Jewish organizations, historians and even state officials do not give away to Turkish blackmail and qualify the events of 1915 as Genocide. Abraham Foxman's announcement became the reason of the activities carried out by the Armenian Community of the USA not only among the Congressmen, but also among the American non-governmental organizations.

Starving to achieve alteration of the recent decision of the U.S. Jewish organizations to qualify the policy of the Ottoman Empire in regard to the Armenians during World War I as Genocide, the Turkish Government displays pressure on Israel," writes the Israeli magazine Haaretz. According to the sources of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the meeting of Abdullah Gul with the Israeli Ambassador to Ankara Pinhas Avivi scheduled in mid August was rather "sensational", for the Minister expressed "Ankara's anger and disappointment regarding this issue." Turkey also expressed its concern over the announcement made by the Israeli Minister of Public Health Ya'acov Ben-Yizri regarding the slaughter of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in the beginning of the XX Century which he made from the part of the Minister of Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni. Ben-Yizri, in particular announced that the Jewish Nation takes a particular liking and respect to the Armenian Nation, for the Armenians have also suffered a slaughter. "The Israeli Government has never denied the horrible events of 1915, it understands and shares the sorrow of the Armenian Nation, taking into consideration the number of the victims and the terrible loses the Armenian Nation suffered," stated the Minister of Public Health of Israel. "The attempt of qualifying the mentioned events of World War I as "Genocide" has no historical and legal bases, for even the historians didn't reach any consensus regarding the issue," says the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Along with this, the Armenians of Jerusalem are certain that in spite of possible political consequences in Turkey's relations with Israel, Jewish organizations all over the world will sooner or later qualify the events of 1915 as "Genocide". "Israel understands this better than anyone else… however the fact that the issue is rather politicized doesn't allow taking the right decision," the Jerusalem Post quotes the opinion of the Armenian Patriarch in Jerusalem Samvel Agoyan. Agoyan also mentioned that Israel's only impediment to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide is politics. "If you are not able to call things by their proper names, at least recognize it as a fact."

Historian Taner Akçam, the author of the "Shameful Act: The Armenian genocide and the Question of Turkish responsibility", harshly criticized the statement made by ADL which spoke of the necessity of "looking back at past". "As long as the Turkish political character is being dictated by people like Yusuf Khalachoglu, Gunduz Aktana and Sukru Elekdaga, I don't think such commission of historians may give any results. To them, the commission may become the continuation of the war, which they carry out against the Armenians, who they consider their enemies," said Akçam.

According to the correspondent of Hurriyet, Ankara had most of all counted on the support of the Jewish lobby in the USA, and had been trying to go against the attempts of the Armenian Diaspora of passing the bill on the Armenian Genocide. As for Milliyet, it cut down to blackmail: "When the Jewish lobbying organizations undertake anti-Turkish positions, it certainly has its most negative impact on Turkish-Israeli relations. It will do much harm to Turkey, Israel and the USA."

What was ADL guided by when accepting the given statement is hard to guess. Perhaps Eli Vizel had his role in it or maybe Israel's and Jewish organizations' stubborn denial of the Armenian Genocide makes upsets the Jewish people. Another interesting fact is that the announcement was disseminated on the eve of the presidential elections in Turkey. Be that as it may, Turkey received its first alert, which was for the moment from the Jewish organizations.