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TURKS ARE HOPING THAT TIME WILL WEAKEN ARGUMENTS AND MEMORY, EXPERTS SAY
PanARMENIAN.Net
12.11.2007 14:05 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "There is a very strong feeling in the Congress
that this may not be the best time to bring up the Armenian Genocide
resolution because of the Iraq/Kurdish situation, retired U.S. Foreign
Service officer and author Edward Alexander said when commenting on
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's statement reading: "It
is my sincere wish that the U.S. Congress does not keep this resolution
and does away with the discussion of this resolution altogether."
"The main thing is that it should not be shelved. You have scholars
at the International Association of Genocide Scholars come up with
the same conclusion. It is simply a move on the part of Turkey to
delay the resolution in the hope that eventually those who are true
survivors will have died and their offspring, like myself, will be so
elderly. I am 87. Turks are hoping that time will weaken the arguments
and memory," Mr Alexander said.
For his part Turkish scholar Taner Akcam noted that the resolution
does and does not matter. "It doesn't matter because it will be a
psychological victory, but won't really solve anything. It does matter
because Turkey must understand that threatening with its political
strategic power will not solve its list of problems. For instance,
Turkey cannot become a member of the European Union if talking about
history is a crime. It is a stupid distinction to think that there
is a difference between Armenians and Armenians in the Diaspora. They
are all asking that the perpetrator must face their history," he said,
Medill News Service reports.
PanARMENIAN.Net
12.11.2007 14:05 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "There is a very strong feeling in the Congress
that this may not be the best time to bring up the Armenian Genocide
resolution because of the Iraq/Kurdish situation, retired U.S. Foreign
Service officer and author Edward Alexander said when commenting on
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's statement reading: "It
is my sincere wish that the U.S. Congress does not keep this resolution
and does away with the discussion of this resolution altogether."
"The main thing is that it should not be shelved. You have scholars
at the International Association of Genocide Scholars come up with
the same conclusion. It is simply a move on the part of Turkey to
delay the resolution in the hope that eventually those who are true
survivors will have died and their offspring, like myself, will be so
elderly. I am 87. Turks are hoping that time will weaken the arguments
and memory," Mr Alexander said.
For his part Turkish scholar Taner Akcam noted that the resolution
does and does not matter. "It doesn't matter because it will be a
psychological victory, but won't really solve anything. It does matter
because Turkey must understand that threatening with its political
strategic power will not solve its list of problems. For instance,
Turkey cannot become a member of the European Union if talking about
history is a crime. It is a stupid distinction to think that there
is a difference between Armenians and Armenians in the Diaspora. They
are all asking that the perpetrator must face their history," he said,
Medill News Service reports.