Posted on 03/20/2009 1:37:16 PM PDT by nickcarraway
For years, President Obama has not minced words about labeling as "genocide" the deaths of Armenians more than 90 years ago during the demise of the Ottoman Empire. Nor have Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Vice President Biden.
All three regularly signed letters to President George W. Bush demanding that he recognize "the mass slaughter of Armenians as genocide" and saying that such an act "would constitute a proud, irrefutable and groundbreaking chapter in U.S. diplomatic history." During last year's presidential campaign, Obama repeatedly insisted that, as president, he would "recognize the Armenian genocide."
"An official policy that calls on diplomats to distort the historical facts is an untenable policy," Obama said in a statement dated Jan. 19, 2008.
Obama's pledge may have been smart politics: His campaign rival, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), infuriated Armenian Americans when he said it was unfair to blame present-day Turkey for the deaths. But now that Obama is president, his pledge has put him in a diplomatically difficult position. The question of calling the deaths a genocide has returned just as Obama is preparing for a visit next month to Turkey, which firmly rejects such a label.
"There is no substitute for speaking plainly when you are talking about mass murder," said Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), who introduced this week a resolution calling on the president to publicly recognize a genocide and whose district contains the largest concentration of Armenian Americans in the country. "I hope he will use the opportunity to prepare Turkey for U.S. recognition and to encourage Turkey to have an open examination of its past."
The Armenia resolution is but one example of how a candidate's narrowly tailored and effective foreign policy appeals can become problematic once he is in office.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I wish countries today had names like ‘The Ottoman Empire’. Like if Iran had a name like that + they continued to talk crazy, we totally would’ve bombed them by now.
Another Obama Statement Expiration Date, and a Recognition That This Is Not the Turkey I Knew
In today's Washington Post, Glenn Kessler takes a look at the President's 180-degree shift in position on a congressional resolution denouncing Turkey for its role in the Armenian genocide, and he might as well punctuate the story with my slogan, "All statements from Barack Obama come with an expiration date . . . all of them."
During and after my two years in Ankara, I made my views on the resolution pretty clear here, here, here, and here. In a nutshell:
Look, I understand commemorating the genocide and pointing the finger at Turkey is a very high priority to Armenian-Americans. But in terms of vital U.S. interests, fighting the battle over the correct interpretation of events of nearly a century ago is about 10,345th on the list. Our tasks in Iraq, and dealing with Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and fighting extremist interpretations of Islam will be much, much easier with Turkey as an ally on these issues instead of an enemy. And the Turks' sensitivity on this issue is hard for most Americans to imagine. Imagine the passions of the Vietnam war, the Confederate flag, the treatment of Native Americans, and the internment of Japanese-Americans all rolled into one, and you have a sense of the touchiness of this issue in Turkish life.
If this resolution passes the House, the U.S. can expect no cooperation from the Turks for anywhere from three to five years. Are you paying attention, Hillary? Obama? Are you prepared to enter the Oval Office and lead a war on terror without our closest Muslim ally?
Obviously, Obama wasn't.
But since I wrote those remarks in March 2007, the ruling AKP party in Turkey has made quite a few ominous moves on a wide variety of fronts. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivered an anti-Israeli tirade and stormed out of a panel with Israeli president Shimon Peres at Davos. Polls indicate that that Turks like Obama more than they like Americans. New lawsuits against cartoonists and journalists have weakened freedom of the press in a country where it had generally thrived not long ago. The Turks' foreign policy has turned away from Europe and gotten closer to Russia and much warmer toward Hamas, Hezbollah, and Syria than it was a short while ago.
I find myself strangely echoing the president's words in other circumstances — "This is not the Turkey I knew."
The Armenian genocide resolution is still a bad idea. But with Prime Minister Erdogan throwing anti-Israeli tantrums, I find myself strangely unmotivated to preserve an alliance that the Turks seem less interested in maintaining . . .
This is a lose-lose no matter what.
Turkey is a critical player in the ME, no matter what.
This one of those situations where truth is the victim of Realpolitik.
Untold in all this is that the country of Armenia, on the verge of new and improved ties with Turkiye is not all that keen on this measure.
It’s been pushed by the Armenian Diaspora in the US, and from what I’ve read, is not considered too favorably by the Armenians currently living in Turkey.
Though considering Turkey’s behavior and lack of cooperation in the runup to the Invasion of Iraq, but that’s really another issue, like Erdogans’ outburst and the Islamisation of Turkish society.
I am waiting for him to campaign for a resolution that states Muslims stole the Jewish homeland! /S
Lets see obama go for the eccumenical patriachate of the orthodox church. He SAID he supported that too.
Reason being that such a resolution would piss off the Turks enough that they would recind their free use treaty we shared with the airbase in Turkey and would have cut off our supply line into Northern Iraq.
The same reason Queen Nancy sent Louise Slaughter and the late Tom Lantos to meet with the PKK reps in Syria. To stir up hostilities with the Turks in effort to cut the supply line to our troops in a different way. The reason the Turks sent troops to their border with Iraq and damn near blew up "the surge" before it got started.
I have heard that such “recognition” would also raise the issue of “compensation” for the descendants of those purportedly killed. I have heard that compensation could be sought even against American corporations that did business with the now defunct Ottoman Empire.
US lawmakers pressure Obama on Armenian issue
Reuters | March 11, 2009 | Susan Cornwell
Posted on 03/14/2009 5:55:08 AM PDT by Ravnagora
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2206458/posts
Jews Check Armenian Genocide Stance
Jerusalem Post | Allison Hoffman
Posted on 02/15/2009 1:00:09 PM PST by nickcarraway
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2186301/posts
[snip] A bill that would ensure such recognition by the US, which was backed by Rep. Adam Schiff - a Jewish Democrat who represents a heavily Armenian area of Los Angeles - failed to make it to a Congressional vote in 2007. However, it sparked a row in the American Jewish community between those who sided with Turkey in an effort to protect Israel’s political interests, and those who argued that Jews were particularly responsible for helping other groups block the public denial of genocide... The current blowup between Israel and Turkey comes amid expectations that the Obama administration will name academic and writer Samantha Power... to a key National Security Council post dealing with multilateral institutions. Power has been outspoken in labeling the Turkish massacre of Armenians genocide, albeit from outside the government... Anti-Defamation League head Abraham Foxman - whose opposition to the Armenian genocide legislation in 2007 provoked widespread criticism - told the Post that as long as Israel maintained its diplomatic ties with Turkey, he saw no immediate reason to change his position on any future genocide resolutions. “This is not a punishment or a reward issue - we don’t change our position on what’s right or wrong based on what people say,” Foxman said. “The interests between Israel and Turkey continue.” ... “There have been some very inappropriate harsh statements by the leadership, especially by the prime minister, which we think are inappropriate,” he said, “but they have not changed the basic relationship [with Israel].” [end]
Turkey president plans to visit Israel to ease tensions
Ha’aretz | February 27, 2009 | Barak Ravid
Posted on 02/26/2009 10:40:18 PM PST by forkinsocket
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2195238/posts
-one more from the strange bedfellows dep’t-
Turkish Army Furious Over IDF Officer’s Comments
(Over Kurds, Cyprus, Armenian Holocaust)
Haaretz | 2/15/09 | Zvi Bar’el
Posted on 02/14/2009 4:33:06 PM PST by nickcarraway
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2185854/posts
[snip] Maj. Gen. Avi Mizrahi - the recently appointed head of Israel’s ground forces - has questioned Turkish policies toward Kurds and Cyprus... Mizrahi, who previously served as a military attache to the United States, also accused Turkey of oppressing its Kurdish minority and massacring Armenians during World War I... Mizrahi has said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan should have “looked in the mirror” before slamming President Shimon Peres last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. During the forum, Erdogan became enraged over being cut off by a panel moderator after listening to Peres defend Operation Cast Lead. Peres’ defense was prompted by harsh criticism of Israel by Erdogan, who said to Peres: “You are killing people.” [end]
For years, President Obama has not minced words about labeling as "genocide" the deaths of Armenians more than 90 years ago during the demise of the Ottoman Empire. Nor have Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Vice President Biden. All three regularly signed letters to President George W. Bush demanding that he recognize "the mass slaughter of Armenians as genocide" and saying that such an act "would constitute a proud, irrefutable and groundbreaking chapter in U.S. diplomatic history." During last year's presidential campaign, Obama repeatedly insisted that, as president, he would "recognize the Armenian genocide." "An official policy that calls on diplomats to distort the historical facts is an untenable policy," Obama said in a statement dated Jan. 19, 2008. Obama's pledge may have been smart politics: His campaign rival, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), infuriated Armenian Americans when he said it was unfair to blame present-day Turkey for the deaths.
Ping!!!
Jews Check Armenian Genocide Stance
Jerusalem Post | Allison Hoffman
Posted on 02/15/2009 1:00:09 PM PST by nickcarraway
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2186301/posts
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