History returns to haunt Turkey

 

Last week, the US House Foreign Relations Commission adopted Resolution 106 acknowledging the Armenian genocide and the guilt of the Ottoman Empire in carrying it out.  Mountains of photographic, oral and written evidence - that the Turkish government systematically deported, tortured and massacred 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1923 - leaves little room for debate, except in the minds of the perpetrators and their allies.

 

President Bush, opposed the resolution, warning that it could “do great harm” to the US relationship with a key ally.  It is disappointing to see the truth sacrificed at the altar of politics yet again, especially when one considers that many of the Armenians were killed because they refused to abandon their Christian faith and convert to Islam.  But this is politics after all…

 

…and politics is a game of ‘give and take’.  Turkey intensified its rhetoric on many fronts last week in the buildup to the vote – with one article in the Turkish press going as far as suggesting that Turkish historians had unearthed new evidence which showed that the Armenians themselves killed many Jews in the Ottoman Empire! – and predicted dire consequences if the resolution was adopted.   The day after the vote, Turkey recalled its ambassador to the US and ‘huffed and puffed’ some more as US diplomats flew to Ankara for damage limitation exercises. 

 

Behind closed doors and away from the public rhetoric, the ‘take’ part of the equation is most likely being worked on, with the issue of allowing Turkey a free hand to deal with the Kurdish problem at its border with Iraq in the forefront.  Ironically, the Kurdish problem itself is a direct product of the Armenian genocide.  92 years ago, the ‘Young Turks’ quickly realized that their plans to get rid of the Christian Armenians could not be carried out without some help, so they recruited the Kurds to be their henchmen and promised them the lands and homes of their victims in return.  That is why today Kurds dominate eastern Turkey, which used to be called “Western Armenia”.

 

So, as the Turkish Parliament votes today to approve the imminent incursions into Kurdish territory, it is very much a case of history repeating itself in a region with a trail of blood running back many many years.

 

Johnny Pierre

17 October 2007