Much ado about Turkey

September 20, 2005
TODAY'S COLUMNIST
By Tulin Daloglu
{Tulin Daloglu is the Washington correspondent and columnist for Turkey's Star TV and newspaper. A former BBC reporter, she writes occasionally for The Washington Times.}

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[...] Rep. Adam Schiff, Californian Democrat, the sponsor of both measures, wrote, "The resolution urges Turkey to go beyond recognition of genocide and reach a just resolution with the Armenian people."

The efforts on behalf of these congressional resolutions are not solely about a duty to the past, but about demands from the present and the future of Turkey.

The question, then, is what exactly makes a "just solution." Armenian activists have over the years made their three goals clear: recognition of the genocide, reparations for the victims and return of the land.

If so, Gunay Evinch, a Turkish-American lawyer and Fulbright scholar, compares the matter of compensation and return of property to the Japanese-American relocations during World War II. In Korematsu vs. United States, the Supreme Court held that treating all Japanese Americans as a security threat and interning them was constitutional for national security purposes. Fifty years later, however, the Supreme Court reversed Korematsu (in Korematsu II), and held that U.S. authorities did not have sufficient information to justify such a relocation. But not only did the United States not return property to the wrongfully relocated and dispossessed, it also did not compensate them at the properties' real value.
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No one should forget the challenge of history to the Turkish Republic in the region and its geostrategic location in this very rough neighborhood. Iran is a serious matter in terms of world peace, and no country would be happy about a neighbor's emerging nuclear power. The United States should also realize that this is not the time to send the message that Congress may allow Armenians to use the Diaspora to get what they want.

The people who believe that genocide occurred will believe it no matter what. This is not about recognizing whether there was an Armenian genocide; but this is about whether to seek compensation and land from Turkey.

One should no wonder why every U.S. administration opposes similar bills. But now, when the future of Iraq's territorial integrity is unprecedented, does Congress really want to send Turks the message that it's willing to divide up their country?

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.