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The Ottoman Empire of Evil
// U.S.-Turkish relations may be badly strained by the recognition of the genocide of Armenians
Tensions are mounting between the United States and its strategic partner Turkey after Congress’s committee passed a resolution to officially recognize the massacre of Armenians under the Turkish Ottoman Empire as a genocide. Democrats dealt a severe blow on America’s position in the region in an effort to do President Bush a bad turn. Ankara may now refuse the United States the access to a military base which plays the key part in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and launch an offensive against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq. The region is also in for a powerful wave of anti-American sentiment.
Stop Congress!
Reports that the House of Representatives’ foreign affairs committee is going to consider a draft resolution on Wednesday to recognize the genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire came as shock news for the White House. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan promptly rang up President Bush last Friday and warned him of unavoidable negative consequences for U.S.-Turkish relations in case the resolution is adopted. Turkish President Abdullah Gul also sent a warning to the U.S. administration.
The White House was extremely concerned but not by the appearance of the resolution in the House of Representatives which declares the early 20th century killings of Armenians as a genocide. U.S. Congress has repeatedly tried to pass this initiative including votes under the Clinton administration but always fell flat. This time, 226 representatives signed on the resolution as co-sponsors, which meant that an idea to recognize the genocide of Armenians for the first time received support of more than one half of the chamber. The resolution had a chance to be adopted in case it was put to vote in the full House.
The Bush administration was aware of the irreparable damage and tried all tools at its disposal to turn off emergency braking and block the adoption. Secretary of State Condoleezza and Secretary Defense Robert Gates were called to rescue as they addressed Congress. They warned that the resolution on the genocide of Armenians “will endanger America’s national security interests”. The U.S. Department of State also gathered signatures of American diplomatic pundits who sent another appeal to Congress. The joint letter with a plea not to pass the resolution was signed by eight former U.S. secretaries of state including Republicans and Democrats Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright and James Baker.
Those who tried to stop Congress representatives in Washington were joined by Commander of U.S. troops in Iraq Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador in Baghdad Ryan Crocker. In a televised address they reminded the lawmakers that 70 percent of air cargo for Iraq goes through Turkey. Overall, infrastructure in Iraq-neighboring Turkey is critically important for the continuation of the operation in Iraq, David Petraeus and Ryan Crocker underscored.
Finally, the last tool to convince the lawmakers was an appeal of President Bush which was voiced three hours before the session of the foreign affairs committee. Mr. Bush said he “deeply regret the tragic suffering of the Armenian people” but warned Congress from the move that could have far-reaching consequences for the United States. “This resolution is not the right response to these historic mass killings, and its passage would do great harm to our relations with a key ally in NATO and the global war non terror,” President Bush said.
After all ways of torpedoing the controversial resolution were exhausted the White House only had to wait for the decision of the legislators.
Following Russia’s Example
Meanwhile, the Capitol on Wednesday was full of sentiment and arguments quite different from those cited by Mr. Bush’s team. It is symbolical that the session of the U.S. House of Representatives was opened by a prayer of the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Garegin II who was on a three-day in Washington in this decisive moment.
Blunt Democrat Tom Lantos, head of the foreign affairs committee, sent the tone for the debate. He said the George Bush Jnr. administration as well as administration of George Bush Snr. and Bill Clinton did not venture to restore historic justice in line with Democratic values which America professes because of geopolitical interests in the Middle East. “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’,” Mr. Lantos told the House.
Congressman Lantos, who traditionally emphasizes America’s special mission, got support from another Democrat, Brad Sherman. “It is right for Congress to recognize this genocide, we must do it,” he said. “Genocide denial is not just the last step of a genocide, it is the first step in the next genocide.”
It is worth noting that co-sponsors of the resolution cited Russia as an example to prove that the draft must be passed. Unlike the United States, Russia recognized the genocide of Armenians. Another Democrat, Rep. James Costa called on his colleagues not to be afraid of Ankara’s threats saying there will be no “serious consequences” for the bilateral ties. “After Russia recognized in 1995 the Genocide, its trade turnover with Turkey increased by 351 percent,” he said.
The House of Representatives’ foreign affairs committee voted 27-21 to pass the resolution calling to take into account in U.S. foreign policy the genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. The document reminds that “on May 24, 1915, the Allied Powers, England, France, and Russia, jointly issued a statement explicitly charging for the first time ever another government of committing ‘a crime against humanity’. The resolutions calls on the U.S. president in his “annual message commemorating the Armenian Genocide issued on April 24 to accurately characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000 Armenians as genocide.”
What Ankara May Say
After the House of Representatives ignored the Bush administration’s warning Washington observers ask what will happen to the resolution and what long-term consequences it many have for the United States and its interests in the region. The House of Representatives’ speaker Nancy Pelosi, an active advocate of recognizing the genocide of Armenians, has promised to put the resolution on vote in the full House during the current session of Congress.
The resolution has no binding force, and President Bush can ignore it just like his opponents ignored the White House’s appeals not to tease Turkey. However, the document has become a symbolic gesture which really affected Ankara in a very sensitive issue. It is quite possible that Turkish authorities will not limit themselves to statements which condemn the decision of American lawmakers and take more radical measures in reply.
In one of these moves Turkey make decide to restrict or close the access to the strategically important Turkish air force base in Ircilink for American aviation which takes part in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Washington Post daily reported this possibility on Wednesday citing high-placed Turkish sources.
In addition, Turkish Parliament may sanction an operation in northern Iraq to fight Kurdish separatists. The vote on the Armenian genocide resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives happened at a very inconvenient moment for the Bush administration when the Turkish government addressed Parliament to endorse a military operation in neighboring Iraq against militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party. Washington vehemently opposes Turkey’s plan to invade northern Iraq. But advocates of the operation in Ankara have just got a serious argument in the favor of the military move.
Finally, the decision of American lawmakers may bring a new wave of anti-Americanism in Turkey and allied countries in the East which are unhappy about what they call “an attempt to rewrite the history”. The U.S. Embassy to Turkey has already warned American citizens in the country of a pending threat due to the passage of the controversial resolution.
Sergey Strokan
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 12, 2007
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