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Commercialappeal.com , TN
Oct 14 2007
Cohen's Turkey stance a puzzler
By Wendi C. Thomas
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Unless he changes his mind, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen is about to sack
his budding reputation as a human-rights crusader. And he'll do it
with a vote against a resolution to officially label as genocide the
World War I era massacre of 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the
Turks.
His stance on a resolution with broad bipartisan support is an
unfortunate yet avoidable deviation from socially conscious positions
Cohen has selected to stake out in his first year as a congressman.
Wendi C. Thomas
And it calls into question whether Cohen is the principled
politician he portrays himself to be.
Not two months into his new job, Cohen introduced a bill to apologize
for Jim Crow and slavery. After decades of representation by a black
man with the last name of Ford, this move undoubtedly scored points
with any black voters who wondered if a white congressman would have
their best interests at heart.
In August, he withstood fire from some local black ministers against
his support of a hate-crimes bill that would protect gay men and
women, which had to play well with a liberal base worried that he'd
cave under the pressure.
Cohen aborted an attempt to join the Congressional Black Caucus -- a
politically savvy, if slightly silly, move to bolster one of his
favorite assertions: He's so liberal, he might as well be a black
woman.
But he's not. He's a Jewish man, which makes his denial of the 20th
century's first holocaust unconscionable, says Dany Beylerian, whose
grandparents survived the Armenian genocide.
Denial, Beylerian says, is the last stage of genocide. It thwarts
complete mourning and inhibits healing.
Adolf Hitler, Beylerian points out, admired the Turks' systematic
slaughter of Armenians and the absence of any punishment after the
killing stopped. "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of
the Armenians?" Hitler is quoted as saying in 1939. Just a few years
later, his "final solution" had killed six million Jews.
But never mind the compelling moral arguments. All that matters,
according to Cohen, is that supporting this resolution would rile a
key ally in the Middle East.
"I regret whatever happened," he says, careful not to label the
"whatever" as genocide, "but this is not the right time."
Military officials have said that passage of House Resolution 106
could threaten the safety of U.S. troops in Iraq, which rely on
supplies trucked through Turkey.
Despite opposition from the Bush administration, the House Foreign
Affairs Committee approved the nonbinding resolution Wednesday. It's
expected to come before the full House within weeks.
Turkey's already stomping its feet; it has told its ambassador to
come home and is threatening to withdraw support for the Iraq war.
Cohen has other reasons to mollify Turkey, not the least of which is
the $256 million in goods Tennessee exported there in 2005.
Turkey is Memphis in May's honored country for 2008. That month, the
U.S.-Turkey Study Group, a passel of leaders from both countries,
will convene here. "I've got to factor in that I'm their host," Cohen
says.
Under the guise of Southern hospitality, Cohen will bow to the
arm-twisting Turkey exacts on all who broach the Armenian issue.
In Turkey, where Hitler's autobiography "Mein Kampf" is a bestseller,
the democratic government is still struggling with the concept of
free speech; Article 301 makes it a crime to insult "Turkishness."
Suggesting that the Turkish government is guilty of genocide
qualifies as such an insult. Article 301 has been a sticking point
between Turkey and its attempts to join the European Union.
The government maintains that blood was shed on both sides and that
the death tolls have been hugely inflated.
Among scholars, though, "there's about as much debate about the
Armenian genocide as there is about the Holocaust," says Beylerian, a
graduate of Rhodes College.
In the early 1900s, U.S. ambassador Henry Morgenthau witnessed what
was happening in what was then the Ottoman Empire and described it as
"racial extermination." In 1915 alone, The New York Times wrote 145
stories about the massacres.
With historical evidence on his side, Beylerian expected at least a
neutral reception when he and nine other people of Armenian descent
met in August with Cohen.
Instead, the group was shocked to hear Cohen suggest that Armenians
started a rebellion -- the same denialist arguments Turkey advances.
As Ara Hanissian, a local doctor also at the meeting, listened to
Cohen, he wondered, "How could something factual be so offensive?"
"He was suddenly a cold, real political kind of guy," says Beylerian,
an inventor and diplomatic consultant who supported Cohen's
congressional campaign. "I was deeply saddened that he took this
position.
"We didn't ask him to go against the majority. We didn't ask him to
go against his party. We didn't ask him to sponsor the legislation --
we asked him to be the 227th co-sponsor."
Cohen sees no contradiction between his bold introduction of the Jim
Crow apology, his staunch support of the hate-crime bill and his
refusal to join his party and the majority with the Armenian genocide
resolution.
"I don't think there's any corollary," he says. The first two affect
his constituents; keeping Turkey calm is a matter of national
security.
Cohen acknowledges that his failure to back the resolution could cost
him votes, even though Beylerian estimates there are fewer than 100
people of Armenian descent in Memphis. But if people remember that
Armenia is recognized as the first Christian nation in the world, the
political fallout could be severe.
"He has transformed from a sensitive historian-civil libertarian into
a heartless pragmatist in a mere nine months," says Hanissian, whose
grandmother escaped the massacres by fleeing into the hills.
"To waver so dramatically from such strong positions on human rights
smacks of hypocrisy."
http://www.commercialappeal.com /news/2007/oct/14/cohens-turkey-stance-a-puzzler/
Oct 14 2007
Cohen's Turkey stance a puzzler
By Wendi C. Thomas
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Unless he changes his mind, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen is about to sack
his budding reputation as a human-rights crusader. And he'll do it
with a vote against a resolution to officially label as genocide the
World War I era massacre of 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the
Turks.
His stance on a resolution with broad bipartisan support is an
unfortunate yet avoidable deviation from socially conscious positions
Cohen has selected to stake out in his first year as a congressman.
Wendi C. Thomas
And it calls into question whether Cohen is the principled
politician he portrays himself to be.
Not two months into his new job, Cohen introduced a bill to apologize
for Jim Crow and slavery. After decades of representation by a black
man with the last name of Ford, this move undoubtedly scored points
with any black voters who wondered if a white congressman would have
their best interests at heart.
In August, he withstood fire from some local black ministers against
his support of a hate-crimes bill that would protect gay men and
women, which had to play well with a liberal base worried that he'd
cave under the pressure.
Cohen aborted an attempt to join the Congressional Black Caucus -- a
politically savvy, if slightly silly, move to bolster one of his
favorite assertions: He's so liberal, he might as well be a black
woman.
But he's not. He's a Jewish man, which makes his denial of the 20th
century's first holocaust unconscionable, says Dany Beylerian, whose
grandparents survived the Armenian genocide.
Denial, Beylerian says, is the last stage of genocide. It thwarts
complete mourning and inhibits healing.
Adolf Hitler, Beylerian points out, admired the Turks' systematic
slaughter of Armenians and the absence of any punishment after the
killing stopped. "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of
the Armenians?" Hitler is quoted as saying in 1939. Just a few years
later, his "final solution" had killed six million Jews.
But never mind the compelling moral arguments. All that matters,
according to Cohen, is that supporting this resolution would rile a
key ally in the Middle East.
"I regret whatever happened," he says, careful not to label the
"whatever" as genocide, "but this is not the right time."
Military officials have said that passage of House Resolution 106
could threaten the safety of U.S. troops in Iraq, which rely on
supplies trucked through Turkey.
Despite opposition from the Bush administration, the House Foreign
Affairs Committee approved the nonbinding resolution Wednesday. It's
expected to come before the full House within weeks.
Turkey's already stomping its feet; it has told its ambassador to
come home and is threatening to withdraw support for the Iraq war.
Cohen has other reasons to mollify Turkey, not the least of which is
the $256 million in goods Tennessee exported there in 2005.
Turkey is Memphis in May's honored country for 2008. That month, the
U.S.-Turkey Study Group, a passel of leaders from both countries,
will convene here. "I've got to factor in that I'm their host," Cohen
says.
Under the guise of Southern hospitality, Cohen will bow to the
arm-twisting Turkey exacts on all who broach the Armenian issue.
In Turkey, where Hitler's autobiography "Mein Kampf" is a bestseller,
the democratic government is still struggling with the concept of
free speech; Article 301 makes it a crime to insult "Turkishness."
Suggesting that the Turkish government is guilty of genocide
qualifies as such an insult. Article 301 has been a sticking point
between Turkey and its attempts to join the European Union.
The government maintains that blood was shed on both sides and that
the death tolls have been hugely inflated.
Among scholars, though, "there's about as much debate about the
Armenian genocide as there is about the Holocaust," says Beylerian, a
graduate of Rhodes College.
In the early 1900s, U.S. ambassador Henry Morgenthau witnessed what
was happening in what was then the Ottoman Empire and described it as
"racial extermination." In 1915 alone, The New York Times wrote 145
stories about the massacres.
With historical evidence on his side, Beylerian expected at least a
neutral reception when he and nine other people of Armenian descent
met in August with Cohen.
Instead, the group was shocked to hear Cohen suggest that Armenians
started a rebellion -- the same denialist arguments Turkey advances.
As Ara Hanissian, a local doctor also at the meeting, listened to
Cohen, he wondered, "How could something factual be so offensive?"
"He was suddenly a cold, real political kind of guy," says Beylerian,
an inventor and diplomatic consultant who supported Cohen's
congressional campaign. "I was deeply saddened that he took this
position.
"We didn't ask him to go against the majority. We didn't ask him to
go against his party. We didn't ask him to sponsor the legislation --
we asked him to be the 227th co-sponsor."
Cohen sees no contradiction between his bold introduction of the Jim
Crow apology, his staunch support of the hate-crime bill and his
refusal to join his party and the majority with the Armenian genocide
resolution.
"I don't think there's any corollary," he says. The first two affect
his constituents; keeping Turkey calm is a matter of national
security.
Cohen acknowledges that his failure to back the resolution could cost
him votes, even though Beylerian estimates there are fewer than 100
people of Armenian descent in Memphis. But if people remember that
Armenia is recognized as the first Christian nation in the world, the
political fallout could be severe.
"He has transformed from a sensitive historian-civil libertarian into
a heartless pragmatist in a mere nine months," says Hanissian, whose
grandmother escaped the massacres by fleeing into the hills.
"To waver so dramatically from such strong positions on human rights
smacks of hypocrisy."
http://www.commercialappeal.com /news/2007/oct/14/cohens-turkey-stance-a-puzzler/