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ANKARA: The New Turkish Jurisprudence On The Armenian Genocide - Now

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  • ANKARA: The New Turkish Jurisprudence On The Armenian Genocide - Now

    THE NEW TURKISH JURISPRUDENCE ON THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE - NOW SEALED!
    by BURAK BEKDÄ°L

    Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
    June 29 2012

    Last December, this column announced the emergence of a new Turkish
    jurisprudence on the Armenian genocide. Half a year later, the new
    jurisprudence won an official seal of approval from the offices
    of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet
    Davutoglu.

    The new jurisprudence, in plain coffeehouse patron's language, is a
    powerful Turkish warning to the rest of the world precisely as I wrote
    it in December: "'Dear members of parliaments of the world! From now
    on, you can recognize the Armenian genocide and have perfectly normal
    relations with us; but we'll get badly offended if you make genocide
    denial illegal.' Will the U.S. Congress get the message? The Turks
    should hope it won't. Sadly, the more than 20 countries in the world
    whose parliaments have recognized the Armenian genocide stand like
    an unpleasant reminder that the soft power Mr. Davutoglu loves to
    assume Turkey possesses does not exist in the real world," (The new
    Turkish jurisprudence on Armenian genocide, HDN, Dec. 23, 2011).

    How did I know / how do I know? Simple. When did the French legislature
    recognize the Armenian genocide? In 2001. What did Turkey do in
    response? It threatened to freeze all economic and political ties with
    France. How did the freeze go? Well, during the Turkish boycott/freeze,
    the two-way trade volume rose from $4 billion in 2001 to nearly $15
    billion in 2011, an increase of 275 percent! That's how Threat 1
    was fulfilled.

    >From December 2011 through to February 2012 Turkey threatened once
    again to freeze all economic, military and political ties with France.

    But was it not strange that the Turks were pledging to freeze something
    they had pledged to freeze a decade ago?

    Under Threat 2, somehow, we would freeze "all cooperation with the
    French government and joint projects, introduce punishing restrictions
    on French military vessels and aircraft passing through Turkish waters
    and airspace or docking on Turkish soil." That would be the appropriate
    response because the French bill that criminalized genocide denial,
    according to Mr. Davutoglu, "dishonored our country and nation."

    Fortunately, the French supreme court overturned the denial bill
    and thus our country and nation was not dishonored. And this must
    be Jurisprudence 2: We no longer think that our country and nation
    would be dishonored when foreign parliaments declare our ancestors
    as committers of genocide. And that... How do we know?

    Because last week Mr. Davutoglu happily announced, under instructions
    from Mr. Erdogan, that Turkey and France would now live happily ever
    after... With all Turkish sanctions under Threat 2 now officially
    dropped, everything will come up roses. C'est magnifique! And
    that miracle happened just because Francois Hollande, France's new
    president, met with Mr. Erdogan - not because either Monsieur Holland,
    who has never hidden his firm commitment to the idea that there was
    an Armenian genocide, or the French Parliament no longer believes
    the tragic incidents of 1915-1919 amounted to genocide.

    >From now on, if either Mr. Erdogan or Mr. Davutoglu claims that it
    would dishonor our country and nation if a foreign Parliament were
    to recognize the Armenian genocide, the members of that Parliament
    may just suffer perpetual hysterias of laughter before they say
    b...u...t... F...r...a...n...c...e!

    But the Rover with Rolls Royce ambitions and the Crescent and Star
    emblem will surely be speeding along down international highways. The
    future, though, may bring in further Turkish jurisprudence on Armenian
    genocide.

    For instance, Jurisprudence 3 may be about accepting genocide denial
    laws but threatening to freeze economic, political and military
    relations if they are enforced; and Jurisprudence 4 may be about
    accepting a reasonable number of people sentenced under denial laws
    but threatening to freeze economic, political and military relations
    if too many people are sentenced.

    Bonne chance, Mssrs. Erdogan et Davutoglu!

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