By Vivek Thiagarajan
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East
ANKARA, Turkey- The United States House Foreign Affairs Committee has passed a bill recognizing the Turkish acts of 1915-1923 as “genocide” against the Armenian people. This action was greatly disfavored by the both the Turkish government and the Bush Administration. Immediately after the non-binding bill passed, Turkey recalled its ambassador from the United States.
The Armenians report the total number who died during that period through systematic deportations was around 1.5 million Armenians. Conversely, the Turkish figure places the number around 300,000 Armenians who died. The Turkish government is quick to point out that both it was an interethnic war where Turks died too, and that the “genocide” occurred during the context of the World War I.
Nancy Pelosi and the democratic-led Congress championed the bill with strong backing from the Armenian American community. The passing of the bill has been praised by the Armenian President Kocharyan. “We hope that this process will lead to the full recognition by the United States of America of the fact of the Armenian genocide,” he said. (BBC News- Armenia welcomes ‘genocide’ vote)
President Bush tried to stop the Committee from passing the bill, the first step in having it voted on in the House of Representatives, because it will strain US diplomatic relations with Turkey. He has stressed the importance of Turkey in stabilizing Iraq. Turkey has been an American ally, and the US uses its military base located in Turkey.
Turkish President Gul alleged that US politicians were “sacrific[ing] big problems for small domestic political games.” (BBC News- Armenia welcomes ‘genocide’ vote) Gul has stressed that the diplomatic relations between the US and Turkey will be strained because of the bill. The Turks fear that the “genocide” bill will allow other countries to draw comparisons between the Turks’ actions and the Nazi Germans. However, the strong reaction to the bill seems to be counter to President Gul’s speech in Strasburg, France, where Gul stated that he believed that article 301, which prohibits a Turk from criticizing Turkishness, ought to be changed.
It is necessary to shed light on acts against humanity to recognize the value of each person’s life. However, the situation between the Turks and the Armenians happened ninety years previous to the Committee bill. Also, Armenians living in Turkey are wary that this bill could cause a backlash against them. Turkey is in a pivotal time as it desires to join the European Union while engaging PKK in Northern Iraq.
For more information, please see:
Associated Press- Turkish General Warns US Over Ties- 14 October 2007
BBC News- Q&A- Armenian ‘genocide’- 11 October 2007
BBC News- Turkey condemns US Armenia vote- 11 October 2007
BBC News- Armenia welcomes ‘genocide’ vote- 11 October 2007
New York Times- Turkish General Warns U.S. on Resolution- 14 October 2007
Reuters AlertNet- Rice urges Turkey to show restraint on N.Iraq- 13 October 2007
Reuters AlertNet- Armenian-American clout buys genocide breakthrough- 12 October 2007
