…and the successor state to the one that committed said genocide has not adequately addressed the actions of its predecessor. The new President campaigned on the issue, and top foreign policy adviser Samantha Power
I do ask, that when they do, and events unfold as the below suggests (H/T: Glenn Reynolds):
If, as many now predict, the U.S. Congress this spring does pass a resolution recognizing an Armenian genocide, the effect will not be to spur Turks to critically examine late Ottoman history. To the contrary, the Turkish public will interpret the resolution as nothing more than a cheap insult against the whole of Turkey delivered by an imperious America and facilitated by vindictive supporters of Israel. Because the issue commands considerable emotional resonance across all sectors of Turkish society, the possibility that Congress might pass the resolution right before Turkey’s municipal elections on March 29 could hand Erdo?an an irresistible opportunity to demagogue the issue. For one, playing up the issue would reinforce his contention that Turkey’s honor is under assault and that he is the man to defend it, thereby immunizing him against criticism that his habit of indulging in inflammatory drama has harmed Turkey’s image and interests. But more significant is that the issue would force even his hard-core opponents to rally behind him in a show of defiant national unity. The damage to Turkish-American and Turkish-Israeli relations could be considerable.
…that the administration and Congress not be surprised. I would think that this would be a reasonable request, except that I’m not really convinced that the Turkish/Israeli blowup at Davos has impacted Democrats’ collective consciousness yet. Those guys don’t really think foreign affairs as a discrete policy platform, if you know what I mean? It’s always about what impact foreign policy issues have on domestic policy ones, not the other way around; which is why we’re about to stumble into a trade war with Europe over the protectionism in the Obama-Reid-Pelosi Debt Bill.
Crossposted at Moe Lane.
Dan McLaughlin
Moe Lane
Neil Stevens
Steve Maley
Armenian issue not just history
Princeliberty Tuesday, February 3rd at 9:30AM EST (link)The Armenian murders took place over two major the first by the turks during WWI under the ottaman empire.
Then after the war ended by the current regime as it crushed at independant Armenian in a war of aggression.
This present government in the denial of the murders its founders committed.
If Germany denied the holocaust we would not just say “Oh that is history.”
We give the turks billions of dollard every year in get nothing to speak of in return.
Our alliance with the turks and turning a blind eye was necessary during the cold war.
But after the end of the cold war we should have stopped giving the Turkish regime billions in aid.
It is a brutal nasty regime and has always been so.
Princeliberty
Armenian Genocide, Native American Genocide, Chinese and Soviet Genocides, Slavery in the US
H (Diary) Tuesday, February 3rd at 12:09PM EST (link)Where do we draw the line with congressional “Declarations” abhoring cruel injustices and murders of the past? I’m not being smarmy here, I’m honestly asking how we, as a nation, benefit, morally, socially, or strategically from these endless demands for emotional reparations.
Well, being a somewhat “Westernized” established Muslim regime makes it diplomatically invaluable as an ally, especially in this WOT era. And being a prime military gateway to the Iraqi theatre of operations puts it on the list of countries we are better off having on our side.
The Armenian genocide is a deep ugly bloodstain on Turkish history. Everybody knows it. A congressional declaration to the effect will simply play into the hands of Turkish populist demagogues and muck international relations up in Jimmy Carter-like proportions.
Have to stand up to the Turks...
trancejeremy Tuesday, February 3rd at 8:38PM EST (link)I disagree. Realpolitick is what gets us into messes. Short term fixes (at best) at the cost of long term problems.
I mean, seriously, we’ve been bending over backwards for the Turks for years. And what has it gotten us, exactly? They’ve attacked the Kurds (better allies than the Turks), they didn’t let us invade Iraq via their country, they pump out anti-American propaganda and movies.
At the risk of sounding like a neoconservative, we need to put principals first, not politics. If we had addressed this issue years ago, Turkey couldn’t be any worse, and probably better.
Acknowledging the precursor to the
Old_Dominion (Diary) Tuesday, February 3rd at 8:46PM EST (link)Holocaust is a moral imperative. Prior to the final solution, Hitler is reported to have asked, “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”
Holocaust denial is some of the most foul anti-Semitism I have ever encountered. Denial of the Armenian Genocide is its close relative. It would be good for the United States to be on the right side of history here.