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BRYZA: FREER SPEECH BEST ANSWER TO 'GENOCIDE' LOBBY ABROAD
Andrew Finkel
Today's Zaman, Turkey
Feb 10 2007
A top US State Department official with responsibility for Turkey said
the administration was committed to dissuading Congress from passing a
resolution recognizing an alleged genocide of the Armenian population
in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, but said that it was difficult to
make this case while Turkey still kept in its penal code laws which
restricted freedom of speech.
"Deep introspection" was the best way to honor victims of the episode
and to prevent a recurrence of future," according to Matthew Bryza,
deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs. In an
interview with Today's Zaman in Ýstanbul, he said that a resolution
of Congress would simply lead to a retrenchment inside Turkey and
a hardening of attitudes that would make internal discussion more
difficult.
He called for widespread debate on the issue among philosophers,
archival historians and ordinary people and cited the popular wave of
sympathy for the murdered Armenian editor Hrant Dink as evidence that
many in Turkey wished to achieve a reconciliation with their past. A
resolution of Congress would "kill that process," he said. At the
same time he suggested that it was impossible to convince the outside
world that Turkey could engage in a "candid and heartfelt discussion"
while people who spoke their minds were being prosecuted. "Article
301 has to go away," he said. This is the clause of the Turkish
penal code making it an offense to "insult Turkishness" under which
Dink was successfully prosecuted. Bryza was in Ýstanbul attending a
US-Turkey economic partnership commission as a member of a trade and
energy delegation which has been touring the wider region. Thursday's
meeting was the first convening of the commission in over three
years. It occurred at a time when the Turkish foreign minister is
in the US and appears part of a mutual charm offensive to restore
relations badly strained by events in Iraq.
Those events, in particular the March 1, 2003 vote of the Turkish
Parliament's which denied a US invasion force the right to transit
through Turkey, still colored Washington's view of Turkey, Bryza
confessed. This was despite, he said, the current logistic support
that Turkey now provides. Ýncirlik Air Base is the major transport
hub for the US forces and many ordinary Iraqis rely on the Turkish
border crossing at Habur for food, fuel and even water.
Ankara by, contrast, is concerned that the current insurrection in
Iraq will result in the break-up of that state and the creation of
an independent Kurdish north that will stimulate insurrection inside
Turkey itself. Bryza repeated the US commitment to Iraq's territorial
integrity and addressed concerns that that the meltdown of central
authority in Baghdad was allowing the anti-Turkish Kurdish separatists
free reign.
He said the US acknowledged that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK) was "the most significant threat to Turkish national security"
but that even the Turkish army -- "the most capable in Europe" and
which had troops operating in northern Iraq -- understood that force
alone could not fix the problem.
Even so, Bryza sought to correct the record that the US was in
any way urging Turkey to be patient. He said that Joseph Ralston,
the retired US general and special envoy for countering the PKK,
understood the urgency of the problem and was "bringing together the
pieces" and that concrete results could be expected soon.
Differences between Ankara and Washington over Iran were "more
philosophical" than substantive, according to Bryza. Neither party
wanted to see a Tehran in possession of nuclear weapons. He agreed
that Turkey was still hoping to lure Iran into dialogue about its
international responsibilities; whereas the US believed sanctions
were unavoidable. Force was not the solution, however. "I have never
had a conversation about preparing for a military operation in Iran,"
he said.
--Boundary_(ID_fXp9+wLDY+jkJ5g4tf4igw)--
Andrew Finkel
Today's Zaman, Turkey
Feb 10 2007
A top US State Department official with responsibility for Turkey said
the administration was committed to dissuading Congress from passing a
resolution recognizing an alleged genocide of the Armenian population
in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, but said that it was difficult to
make this case while Turkey still kept in its penal code laws which
restricted freedom of speech.
"Deep introspection" was the best way to honor victims of the episode
and to prevent a recurrence of future," according to Matthew Bryza,
deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs. In an
interview with Today's Zaman in Ýstanbul, he said that a resolution
of Congress would simply lead to a retrenchment inside Turkey and
a hardening of attitudes that would make internal discussion more
difficult.
He called for widespread debate on the issue among philosophers,
archival historians and ordinary people and cited the popular wave of
sympathy for the murdered Armenian editor Hrant Dink as evidence that
many in Turkey wished to achieve a reconciliation with their past. A
resolution of Congress would "kill that process," he said. At the
same time he suggested that it was impossible to convince the outside
world that Turkey could engage in a "candid and heartfelt discussion"
while people who spoke their minds were being prosecuted. "Article
301 has to go away," he said. This is the clause of the Turkish
penal code making it an offense to "insult Turkishness" under which
Dink was successfully prosecuted. Bryza was in Ýstanbul attending a
US-Turkey economic partnership commission as a member of a trade and
energy delegation which has been touring the wider region. Thursday's
meeting was the first convening of the commission in over three
years. It occurred at a time when the Turkish foreign minister is
in the US and appears part of a mutual charm offensive to restore
relations badly strained by events in Iraq.
Those events, in particular the March 1, 2003 vote of the Turkish
Parliament's which denied a US invasion force the right to transit
through Turkey, still colored Washington's view of Turkey, Bryza
confessed. This was despite, he said, the current logistic support
that Turkey now provides. Ýncirlik Air Base is the major transport
hub for the US forces and many ordinary Iraqis rely on the Turkish
border crossing at Habur for food, fuel and even water.
Ankara by, contrast, is concerned that the current insurrection in
Iraq will result in the break-up of that state and the creation of
an independent Kurdish north that will stimulate insurrection inside
Turkey itself. Bryza repeated the US commitment to Iraq's territorial
integrity and addressed concerns that that the meltdown of central
authority in Baghdad was allowing the anti-Turkish Kurdish separatists
free reign.
He said the US acknowledged that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK) was "the most significant threat to Turkish national security"
but that even the Turkish army -- "the most capable in Europe" and
which had troops operating in northern Iraq -- understood that force
alone could not fix the problem.
Even so, Bryza sought to correct the record that the US was in
any way urging Turkey to be patient. He said that Joseph Ralston,
the retired US general and special envoy for countering the PKK,
understood the urgency of the problem and was "bringing together the
pieces" and that concrete results could be expected soon.
Differences between Ankara and Washington over Iran were "more
philosophical" than substantive, according to Bryza. Neither party
wanted to see a Tehran in possession of nuclear weapons. He agreed
that Turkey was still hoping to lure Iran into dialogue about its
international responsibilities; whereas the US believed sanctions
were unavoidable. Force was not the solution, however. "I have never
had a conversation about preparing for a military operation in Iran,"
he said.
--Boundary_(ID_fXp9+wLDY+jkJ5g4tf4igw)--