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U.S. Tries To Keep Turkey In Its Orbit, Even Through Lies And Incomp

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  • U.S. Tries To Keep Turkey In Its Orbit, Even Through Lies And Incomp

    U.S. TRIES TO KEEP TURKEY IN ITS ORBIT, EVEN THROUGH LIES AND INCOMPETENCE
    Karine Ter-Sahakyan

    PanARMENIAN.Net
    August 26, 2011

    Washington now needs Muslim support which she so rashly lost due
    to the fall of Hosni Mubarak. After all, Egypt and not Turkey was a
    staunch U.S. ally in the Arab world.

    Before 1915 there used to be around four thousand operating churches
    in Western Armenia, of which only 44 in Istanbul and 6 in Anatolia now
    operate underneath the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople. All
    the rest were either destroyed or converted into mosques, warehouses,
    sheds. Most of the churches are simply ruined, and they can be
    recognized only by the few extant photographs. And U.S. Ambassador
    to Turkey Francis Ricciardone, appointed by Barack Obama during the
    Congressional recess, cannot but know all of this.

    PanARMENIAN.Net - However, in response to a written inquiry from
    Senator Robert Menendez about how many of the Christian churches
    functioning prior to 1915 on the territory of present-day Turkey
    are still operating today as churches, the U.S. diplomat answered:
    "Most of the Christian churches functioning prior to 1915 are still
    operating as churches." The statement is once again dictated by the
    policy of the U.S. State Department, which still considers Turkey
    an important strategic ally in the Middle East, and is reluctant to
    spoil relations with it. This statement also clearly fits into the
    pattern of declarations of the U.S. presidential candidates promising
    to recognize the Armenian Genocide and successfully forgetting
    about their promises, once settled in the White House. The Armenian
    National Committee of America (ANCA) sharply criticized the "recess"
    ambassador and compelled him to apologize, which Ricciardone did,
    asserting that his ignorance of the fact was a purely technical
    mistake. However, fact of the matter remained unchanged, since even
    in his latest statement the diplomat stayed true to his unconditional
    support for Ankara's denial policy. "Most of the Christian churches
    functioning prior to 1915 are no longer operating as churches. Many
    churches do not offer services due to insufficient clergy, others
    have fallen into disrepair or have been converted into mosques,"
    ambassador's corrected response read. It seems the diplomat has
    "forgotten" about the destruction of architectural monuments - not
    only Armenian, but also Greek, Assyrian and Catholic. The website of
    Asbarez daily gives the list of Armenian and Greek churches that have
    survived to our days, but no divine service is provided in them; the
    churches are in bad shape. The list includes 60 Armenian and 75 Greek
    churches, not to mention the numerous Armenian and Greek schools,
    which no longer exist. Most of the destroyed churches were recorded
    in the vilayet of Van - 322, Mush - 148, Sivas - 110, Trabzon - 89,
    Erzurum - 65, Tunceli - 93... There were churches and chapels in
    almost every village of Western Armenia.

    "Ambassador Ricciardone's demonstrably false assertion betrays a
    callous disregard for Ottoman Turkey's wholesale destruction of
    Christian churches, and for the fate of the millions of Christians
    faithful, who worshipped in their homeland within these holy sites
    until their genocidal annihilation," said Aram Hamparian, Executive
    Director of the ANCA. "Whether his response is due to a truly
    remarkable lack of awareness or, instead, to a willful distortion
    of the facts of history to fit Ankara's genocide denial narrative,
    this nominee has clearly shown he's unable to effectively advance U.S.

    interests or American values as our nation's representative in
    Ankara." But, judging by the events in Libya and Syria, it should
    be noted that the ambassador pictures the U.S. interests in Turkey
    quite well. Democracy and human rights, as practice shows, end where
    national interests begin. But Washington now needs Muslim support
    which she so rashly lost due to the fall of Hosni Mubarak. After
    all, Egypt and not Turkey was a staunch U.S. ally in the Arab world,
    and a fairly reliable one, unlike Turkey.

    The issue of confirmation of the ambassadors to Turkey and Azerbaijan
    is still in the U.S. Senate and a new hearing may still be held. The
    latest statements of Francis Ricciardone will hardly add to his
    credit and to a quick confirmation of his candidacy, but if the Obama
    administration decides that he should be the one representing the
    United States in Turkey, so will it be. Although the case with Richard
    Hoagland, whom the senators did not approve as the U.S. Ambassador
    to Armenia, should remind diplomats that the President's decision is
    not a final say, especially in a country like the United States.

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