Article in 'The Wall Street Journal' and three Armenian responses

Original article: “Don't Go Cold on Turkey”

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By Mark R. Parris

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Once again, a resolution has been introduced in the House of Representatives asserting that the forcible deportation and massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in 1915 was “genocide”. But this time around the resolution, sponsored by Reps. Frank Pallone, Adam Schiff, George Radanovich and Joe Knollenberg (and over 170 co-sponsors), appears likely to pass. The result will be a train wreck with an important, long standing American ally: Turkey.

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It may never be the right time for one nation to pass legislation on another's history or morality, but there could be no worse time than now. It's a particularly sensitive moment in Turkish politics: A new president will be picked by parliament in late April (coinciding with Congress's likely decision on a resolution) and elections for a new parliament will follow by November. Based on current polling, Turkey by year's end could for the first time have a president, government, parliament and most municipalities under the control of a party — Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party — inclined to loosen the strict barriers set up by Ataturk between religion and state. One does not have to share secular fears of AKP's alleged “secret agenda” to Islamicize Turkish society to appreciate the strains this would generate in Turkish political life over the weeks and months ahead. Nor does it take much imagination to realize that, in such circumstances, Turkish politicians will compete with one another, should a resolution be passed, to show they cannot be pushed around by the U.S. Congress.

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Then there is Iran. Will Turkey align itself with Washington and the West in efforts to ratchet up pressure against the Islamic Republic — a major trading partner and ally against the PKK? Or will the Turks join Russia and others favoring a less-confrontational approach? And as the U.S. tries to forge a new alignment in the Middle East to roll back Iranian influence and restart Israeli-Palestinian talks, a Turkey that has both bulked up its influence in the Muslim world (particularly among Sunni Arabs) and kept its close relationship with Israel, will be an asset.

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Turkey has quietly emerged as the prize in a new great game over who will develop and bring to world markets the vast oil and gas resources of former Soviet Central Asia. Experts know that Turkey will in the years ahead become one of the world's major energy hubs, supplied by new pipelines that will crisscross Anatolia. The question is whether this will happen according to Moscow's or Washington's vision of where those pipelines should run, and whose product should fill them. Ankara will likely make some of the key decisions this year.

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Turkey goes into this defining year with its anchors to the West drifting or under strain. NATO, for decades the bedrock of Turkey's Western identity, particularly for its influential military, has lost luster as its mission has blurred. The European Union's ambivalence toward Turkey since formally beginning the accession process in October 2006 has soured many Turks on the project. Despite laudable garden-tending by senior officials on both sides, U.S.-Turkish relations haven't recovered the depth or breadth they had in the '90s; polls show anti-Americanism remains high in the Turkish “street”. The winners have been Turkey's ultranationalists, whose vision of a Turkey that “goes it alone” and increasingly resorts to violence is chilling.

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Some will interpret this analysis as realpolitik that simply postpones the moment when Turkey must deal with its pre-Republican history. That ignores the reality that Turks in growing numbers — among them Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk — are speaking out in favor of a more candid debate on the events of 1915. Most fear their voices will be drowned out by the tsunami of nationalist outrage that a resolution will generate.

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In the past, U.S. congressional leaders have repeatedly bowed to the findings of administrations of both parties that a genocide resolution would adversely affect vital American security interests. Given the equities America now has at stake in and around Turkey, those findings remain as valid as ever.

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The U.S. has a lot of hard work to do in Turkey's neighborhood. In some cases, American lives will literally be at stake. Whatever the challenge we face in this troubled region, our success will be far more certain if we can work with Turkey, rather than having to work around it. The responsible choice for Congress's current leadership is to join their predecessors in concluding that passage of an Armenian genocide resolution does not serve American interests.?

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Mr. Parris, who was U.S. ambassador to Turkey from 1997 to 2000, is a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution.
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Source: “The Wall Street Journal”, 3 March 2007
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117288912197925672.html (subscription)

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Three letters that appeared on 12 March 2007 in the Wall Street Journal regarding the above article:?
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Turkey and the U.S. must confront Genocide's reality

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In his March 3 editorial-page commentary “Don't Go Cold on Turkey1,” former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Mark Parris opposes U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide Resolution. His main contention is that this will result in a “train wreck” with an important, long-standing American ally.

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Amb. Parris and the other opponents of honestly recognizing this crime are once again crying wolf. “Train wrecks” were loudly but falsely predicted before President Reagan's 1981 public affirmation of the Armenian genocide, the 1984 designation by the House of April 24 as a day for its remembrance, as well as before the amendments passed by the House in 1996 and 2004 restricting U.S. aid to Turkey based on its denial of this crime against humanity.

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Despite threats of retribution, Turkey has taken only token steps against the European Parliament, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Argentina, Austria, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland and other states and international bodies that have recognized the Armenian genocide.

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In fact, despite all its threats in 2001 against France's recognition of the Armenian genocide, trade between France and Turkey grew 22% the following year, and has grown by 131% over the past five years.

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Mr. Parris advocates that the recognition of the genocide of the Armenians be shelved so that among other concerns candid voices by progressive Turks like Orhan Pamuk are not drowned out. Do we have to remind ourselves that there was no talk about the genocide resolution when charges were brought against the Nobel Laureate and many other scholars and journalists? Irrespective of what sublime bill the American legislature adopts, Turkey will continue its abhorrent attitude toward free thinkers unless the draconian rules in its
criminal code are swept away.

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Every time a congressional resolution on the Armenian genocide is introduced, the theme of “now is not the time” is rolled out. The previous moment came in 2000 when the House was poised to reaffirm the fact of the Armenian genocide.

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President Clinton successfully made the timing appeal to Speaker Hastert, who pulled the resolution from the schedule moments before it surely would have passed. A not so grateful Turkey subsequently denied a stunned United States any cooperation in dealing with Iraq.

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To date, more than 170 Democrat and Republican members of Congress have co-sponsored the current genocide resolution.

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Clearly there is growing bipartisan congressional support for action now to reaffirm Armenian history and confront genocide denial.

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The Republic of Turkey denies this crime and demands that friends around the world join in their revisionism. If friends do not, Turkey threatens them with reprisals.

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Simultaneously, Turkey criminalizes free speech and prosecutes its citizens for daring to speak the truth. Unless Turkey opts to deal forthrightly with its genocidal legacy, international recognition of the Armenian genocide will never be opportune.

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It is long past time for the U.S. to reaffirm the Armenian genocide despite Turkish threats and to support those in Turkey who serve democracy and reform by speaking freely. Now is precisely the time to act.

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Source: “The Wall Street Journal”, 12 March 2007
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117366314028033780.html (subscription)