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The News Tribune, WA
Oct 12 2007
A poor moment to antagonize Turkey
THE NEWS TRIBUNE Published: October 12th, 2007 01:00 AM
There shouldn't be a statute of limitations on genocides. But maybe
there should be one on politically driven resolutions against
genocide offered almost a century too late.
The congressional resolution in question condemns the Turkish
campaign to starve and murder Armenians during World War I and just
after. Today, the U.S. House of Representatives is moving to
officially label that campaign `genocide.' The House Foreign Affairs
Committee endorsed the measure Wednesday.
What the Armenians suffered was genocide. But the House is a little
tardy coming to the issue. Congress might have been of more help had
it acted in, say, 1916. The modern Turkish government denies that the
killings amounted to genocide. That's self-interest speaking. But so,
to some extent, is the resolution itself.
Its chief sponsor, Rep. Adam Schiff, represents more than 70,000
Armenian-Americans in his California district. Some of House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi's major contributors are of Armenian descent. Armenians
have good reason to be infuriated by Turkey's denial of history, but
Congress should have the sense not to court their favor in a way that
threatens to antagonize a key U.S. ally.
In Turkey, this resolution is viewed as a national insult. This isn't
the time to be inviting Turkish hostility.
U.S. diplomats now are desperately trying to prevent Turkey from
invading northern Iraq to stop cross-border attacks from Kurdish
guerrillas. The Turkish public is already annoyed that its government
is assisting the United States in Iraq and elsewhere.
An eruption of anti-Americanism in Turkey could weaken what has been
a close strategic partnership and jeopardize U.S. access to air space
and key Turkish bases.
For these and other reasons, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and
all her living predecessors have asked the House not to proceed.
Washington's House delegation is divided. Reps. Norm Dicks,
D-Belfair; Jim McDermott, D-Seattle; and Adam Smith, D-Tacoma, oppose
the resolution. Others support it.
McDermott doesn't like the mixed message. `The Turks have been our
allies,' he said. `Now we're calling them mass murderers.'
At this particular moment, that's not the message Congress ought to
be sending the Turks.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/story/1773 16.html
Oct 12 2007
A poor moment to antagonize Turkey
THE NEWS TRIBUNE Published: October 12th, 2007 01:00 AM
There shouldn't be a statute of limitations on genocides. But maybe
there should be one on politically driven resolutions against
genocide offered almost a century too late.
The congressional resolution in question condemns the Turkish
campaign to starve and murder Armenians during World War I and just
after. Today, the U.S. House of Representatives is moving to
officially label that campaign `genocide.' The House Foreign Affairs
Committee endorsed the measure Wednesday.
What the Armenians suffered was genocide. But the House is a little
tardy coming to the issue. Congress might have been of more help had
it acted in, say, 1916. The modern Turkish government denies that the
killings amounted to genocide. That's self-interest speaking. But so,
to some extent, is the resolution itself.
Its chief sponsor, Rep. Adam Schiff, represents more than 70,000
Armenian-Americans in his California district. Some of House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi's major contributors are of Armenian descent. Armenians
have good reason to be infuriated by Turkey's denial of history, but
Congress should have the sense not to court their favor in a way that
threatens to antagonize a key U.S. ally.
In Turkey, this resolution is viewed as a national insult. This isn't
the time to be inviting Turkish hostility.
U.S. diplomats now are desperately trying to prevent Turkey from
invading northern Iraq to stop cross-border attacks from Kurdish
guerrillas. The Turkish public is already annoyed that its government
is assisting the United States in Iraq and elsewhere.
An eruption of anti-Americanism in Turkey could weaken what has been
a close strategic partnership and jeopardize U.S. access to air space
and key Turkish bases.
For these and other reasons, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and
all her living predecessors have asked the House not to proceed.
Washington's House delegation is divided. Reps. Norm Dicks,
D-Belfair; Jim McDermott, D-Seattle; and Adam Smith, D-Tacoma, oppose
the resolution. Others support it.
McDermott doesn't like the mixed message. `The Turks have been our
allies,' he said. `Now we're calling them mass murderers.'
At this particular moment, that's not the message Congress ought to
be sending the Turks.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/story/1773 16.html