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CONGRESSIONAL FORAYS INTO FOREIGN POLICY...
Registan.net, WA
Oct 12 2007
...are almost uniformly idiotic. Case in point is the non-binding
House resolution recognizing the Ottoman-era massacres of Armenians
as genocide. As Deniz Ozemir notes at Passport, Turkey has history
that it needs to confront, but for the House of Representatives
to play politics with history is not the way to get Turkey to do
so. This WaPo editorial rightly calls the resolution that the Foreign
Affairs Committee passed by a vote of 27-21 "worse than irrelevant"
(via abu muqawama). If only it were simply the type of hollow gesture
at which members of Congress so greatly excel at making...
Turkey is very pissed, is well-positioned to put the hurt to US
interests over the vote, and asJoshua Kucera reports at EurasiaNet,
determined to compel the US to do something to calm its anger.
"The only remedy of yesterday's mistake is concrete cooperation in
the fight against the PKK," said Egemen Bagis, an MP and foreign
policy advisor to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "I
don't know of any other option that can somehow soften the hearts of
72 million Turks."
"Some members of the US Congress yesterday wanted to play hardball,"
he continued. "I can assure you that Turkey can play hardball. Our
experience of having a state is 1,000 years old. The ball is in your
court, and you have to show us that Turkey matters. Show us on the
PKK, show us on bringing this to the floor or not bringing this to
the floor, or other issues."
I hope the mess they've cause is worth the votes and campaign donations
in the 2008 elections...
http://www.registan.net/index.php/20 07/10/11/congressional-forays-into-foreign-policy/
Registan.net, WA
Oct 12 2007
...are almost uniformly idiotic. Case in point is the non-binding
House resolution recognizing the Ottoman-era massacres of Armenians
as genocide. As Deniz Ozemir notes at Passport, Turkey has history
that it needs to confront, but for the House of Representatives
to play politics with history is not the way to get Turkey to do
so. This WaPo editorial rightly calls the resolution that the Foreign
Affairs Committee passed by a vote of 27-21 "worse than irrelevant"
(via abu muqawama). If only it were simply the type of hollow gesture
at which members of Congress so greatly excel at making...
Turkey is very pissed, is well-positioned to put the hurt to US
interests over the vote, and asJoshua Kucera reports at EurasiaNet,
determined to compel the US to do something to calm its anger.
"The only remedy of yesterday's mistake is concrete cooperation in
the fight against the PKK," said Egemen Bagis, an MP and foreign
policy advisor to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "I
don't know of any other option that can somehow soften the hearts of
72 million Turks."
"Some members of the US Congress yesterday wanted to play hardball,"
he continued. "I can assure you that Turkey can play hardball. Our
experience of having a state is 1,000 years old. The ball is in your
court, and you have to show us that Turkey matters. Show us on the
PKK, show us on bringing this to the floor or not bringing this to
the floor, or other issues."
I hope the mess they've cause is worth the votes and campaign donations
in the 2008 elections...
http://www.registan.net/index.php/20 07/10/11/congressional-forays-into-foreign-policy/