Art Tonoyan, guest column: Turkey blackmails U.S. to ignore its sins

Sunday, October 28, 2007
Waco Tribune Herald, TX

Some 90 years ago the Ottoman Turkish government set out in the most thorough fashion to destroy its Christian minorities. But the brunt of the Turkish ire fell on Armenian Christians.

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Actually, considerable credit went to the combined relief efforts of American Protestant missionaries, philanthropists such as John D. Rockefeller and statesmen such as William Jennings Bryan.

The U.S. Congress is debating a non-binding resolution recognizing that the Ottoman government’s efforts to destroy Armenians indeed constituted a genocide.[...], backed by self-evident facts, has brought shameless Turkish tantrums combined with political blackmail, and meddling into U.S. internal affairs.

So doing, Turkey indirectly has threatened the lives of U.S. service personnel in Iraq.

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Who would have thought that the United States could be so bullied?

The timing of the resolution? I would argue it is 90 years too late. But similar resolutions have come up year after year in Congress. Year after year the proposal is shot down for fear of offending the Turks.

Always, say the opponents, the time is not right.

Either it’s the Cold War, or the first Gulf War, or this Gulf War or the war on terrorism.

[...], this Turkish government, while allowing the shipment of supplies, refused to allow the staging of coalition troops in opening of the northern front into Iraq. Turkey did so in hopes of scoring political points with the European Union.

This ended up costing time, U.S. lives and U.S. tax dollars.

That’s not all. Turkey’s Islamist government has courted the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, called the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians a “genocide” (a dose of inescapable irony) and has signed lucrative business deals with the regime of Iranian mullahs by effectively sidestepping U.S. calls to isolate Iran.

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The symbolic resolution in question before Congress is a simple act of affirmation of history. It is not by any stretch of the imagination directed at the current Turkish government, although Turkey perceives it as such.

Some 23 nations have passed similar resolutions in the past decade.

The fault for the current debacle should not therefore be located in partisan politics, as the cynics at the Fox News and the likes of Rush Limbaugh would have us believe.

It’s in the fact that Turkey is yet to take an honest look at a past it tries so hard to deny. The tantrums it now throws are more worthy of my 2-year-old than a modern state aspiring to join the family of European nations.

Art Tonoyan is a Ph.D. candidate at Baylor University’s J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies.

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.

By Caving in to Turkish Threats, U.S. Is Held Hostage to Foreign Powers

October 25, 2007
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier

While Turkey has poured millions of dollars into high-powered lobbying and public relations firms to inundate the mass media with denialist propaganda, it has lost its main argument that there was no genocide. Even the staunchest congressional opponents of the genocide resolution have acknowledged that Turks did commit genocide against the Armenians.
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Incidentally, the Incirlik airbase in Turkey, which the Turks have threatened to close should Congress adopt the Armenian Genocide resolution, is actually not so vital for the U.S. war effort in Iraq, according to a top American commander. U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff General Michael Moseley stated in a Feb. 21, 2007 briefing: “I wouldn't say that we have to [use] Incirlik to conduct operations in Iraq.”

The Armenian Genocide resolution has now turned into a major tug of war between truth on one side and the combined might of the Bush administration, some American-Jewish organizations, Israeli leaders, the Turkish government and its high-powered lobbyists on the other side. The U.S. Congress has become the battleground for the hearts and minds of Americans.

While it is disturbing to read the daily barrage of denial by descendants of those who committed mass murder against the Armenian nation, it is much more upsetting to witness the leaders of the United States, the bastion of democracy and human rights, acting as spokesmen for liars and deniers.

It is absolutely appalling that the Bush administration is caving in to the pressures and blackmail of a quasi-fascist state, rather than rejecting Turkey’s threats and urging its leaders to face up to the truth and admit the facts of history. It is astounding to see how U.S. officials are groveling in front of Turkish denialists, instead of mustering the courage to tell them to get lost. After all, Turkey needs the United States much more than America needs Turkey. Should the Turks take any punitive action against American interests, they would end up losing much more than the United States.

While Turkey has poured millions of dollars into high-powered lobbying and public relations firms to inundate the mass media with denialist propaganda, it has lost its main argument that there was no genocide. Even the staunchest congressional opponents of the genocide resolution have acknowledged that Turks did commit genocide against the Armenians.

Moreover, a handful of American-Jewish organizations that still oppose the resolution have stated that they do so out of fear for the lives of the Jews in Turkey -- not exactly a ringing endorsement of human rights in that so-called democracy! Sooner or later, Turkey’s Islamist leaders are bound to take actions that contradict American and/or Israeli interests, thereby weakening the opposition to the genocide resolution.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Dem.-CA) has bravely stood her ground despite the recent onslaught of media criticisms against her and the betrayal of some of her own Democratic colleagues. She is neither intimidated by massive Bush administration pressures nor by Turkish threats. Incidentally, the Incirlik airbase in Turkey, which the Turks have threatened to close should Congress adopt the Armenian Genocide resolution, is actually not so vital for the U.S. war effort in Iraq, according to a top American commander. U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff General Michael Moseley stated in a Feb. 21, 2007 briefing: “I wouldn't say that we have to [use] Incirlik to conduct operations in Iraq.”

A core group of Democrats and Republicans, who probably constitute more than half of the House members, are still backing the Speaker’s stand on this morally just issue, despite the heavy-handed tactics of powerful and well-financed opponents of the resolution. In addition, there are many Republican House members who support the resolution, but have not publicly endorsed it in order to avoid being pressured by the administration.

Armenian-Americans need to rally to the support of this core group while providing political cover to the Speaker’s valiant efforts by blanketing the media with letters to the editor, op-ed columns, interviews with journalists, and full-page ads in newspapers and magazines. Such a massive campaign is necessary in order to counter all the lies that were spread through the media in recent days by well-connected public relations firms hired by Turkey at a cost of more than $300,000 per month. The negative articles and TV talk shows have created the false impression that the American public is against the genocide resolution, causing some congressional sponsors to go back on their word and remove their names.

While the Turks, due to their obsessive opposition to any and all references to the Armenian Genocide, have unwittingly globalized this issue, it is important that the Armenian community’s efforts continue unabated until this resolution is approved by the full House.

In next year’s primaries and general elections, the Armenian-American community should remember some of these turncoats and target them for defeat. Other ethnic groups have successfully practiced this method of making an example of politicians working against their interests.

This controversy carries an important lesson for U.S. policymakers. One needs to remember that appeasing Turkey would encourage other countries to also blackmail the United States, holding American policies hostage to foreign interests. Two recent examples of other countries lifting a page from the Turkish book of threats would suffice: Japan’s demand that Congress not pass a resolution to condemn the abuse of Korean "comfort women" by Japanese soldiers during WWII and Chinese threats to dissuade the White House from honoring the Dalai Lama.

By buckling under Turkish pressure, the U.S. government has left the door open not only for major powers like Japan and China, but also to lesser states to force the United States to take positions contrary to its values and interests.

Debate over word obscures Turkey's need to face truth

10/16/2007
San Jose Mercury News, USA
By Richard Cohen
Washington Post columnist.

Richard Cohen below comes with the strange notion that if a genocide does not mirror the Holocaust then it is not genocide. also he is wrong by saying Raphael Lemkin did not have the Armenian genocide in mind, see Open Letter to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But nonetheless he admits that Turkey must revisit its past without any judicial interference. I quote his conclusion "But, it may yet occur to someone in the government that Turkey's tantrums have turned an obscure - non-binding! - congressional resolution into yet another round of tutorials on the Armenian tragedy of 1915. Call it genocide or call it something else, but there is only one thing to call Turkey's insistence that it and its power will determine the truth: unacceptable.". In essence this means reality hurts to quote a French adage.

It goes without saying that the House resolution condemning Turkey for the "genocide" of Armenians in 1915 will serve no earthly purpose and that it will, to say the least, complicate if not severely strain U.S.-Turkey relations. It goes without saying, also, that the Turks are extremely sensitive on the topic and since they are helpful in the war in Iraq and a friend to Israel, that their feelings ought to be taken into account. All of this is true, but I would feel a lot better about killing this resolution if the argument wasn't so much about how we need Turkey and not at all about the truthfulness of the matter.

Of even that, I have some doubt. The congressional resolution repeatedly employs the word "genocide," a term used by many scholars. But Raphael Lemkin, the Polish-Jewish emigre who coined the term in 1943, clearly had what the Nazis were doing to the Jews in mind. If that is the standard - and it need not be - then what happened in the collapsing Ottoman Empire in 1915 was something short of genocide. It was plenty bad - maybe as many as 1.5 million Armenians perished, many of them outright murdered - but not all Armenians everywhere in what was then Turkey were as calamitously affected. The substantial Armenian communities in Constantinople, Smyrna and Aleppo were largely spared. No German city could make that statement about its Jews.

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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.

Turkey: Re-evaluating the U.S. Alliance

October 15, 2007 18 35 GMT
Stratfor

The article below unmasks the real reasons why Turkey is acting so offended. The Armenian genocide resolution is definitely not a threat to Turkey. Neither is the Kurdish intrusions. The genocide happened prior to the establishment of the present republic of Turkey and the casualties from Kurdish intrusions from the beginning of this year mount to only 50 much less by an order of magnitude than people killed in Turkey from traffic accidents over the end of Ramadan holidays. Definitely these are excuses for Turkey to carry out its long held ambitions in the region.

Summary

A pending resolution before the U.S. Congress that calls the 1915 killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks genocide has brought to light a growing strain in U.S.-Turkish relations. This latest episode seriously threatens to complicate U.S. military logistics into Iraq should Turkey carry out threats to limit U.S. access to the air base in the southeastern Turkish city of Incirlik. The Armenian genocide issue, as well as U.S. protests over Turkish incursions into northern Iraq to crush Kurdish rebels, strike at the core of Turkish geopolitics, and will push Ankara into re-evaluating its long-standing alliance with the United States.

Analysis

New U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen called up his Turkish counterpart, Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, on Oct. 15 to discuss the repercussions to U.S.-Turkish relations from the proposed Armenian bill before the U.S. Congress. The bill labels the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks genocide. The big fear in the Pentagon is that if the resolution passes, Turkey will follow through with threats to further limit use of Incirlik Air Base in southeastern Turkey for support of operations in Iraq.

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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.

US explores alternative airbase after row with Turkey

October 15 2007
Herald
IAN BRUCE,
Correspondent

The article below says that the Pentagon is looking for an alternative transport route. I find it very strange that the US becomes so much dependent to the point that it is threatened when it makes a decision going against the liking of Turkey. Where is the independence of the USA?

The Pentagon is looking for emergency alternatives to its key Incirlik airbase in Turkey in case a diplomatic row with Ankara cuts off 70% of its airborne supplies to US forces in Iraq.

The possible loss of Turkish facilities follows US congressional criticism over alleged "genocide" against Armenian civilians by Ottoman Turkish forces during the First World War.

[...]

© All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

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.

Gun-shy on genocide

Saturday, October 13, 2007
Albany Times Union, NY

America should not stoop that low by being an accomplice to the denial of the Armenian genocide by Turkey. America will say it as it is and it is up to Turkey to understand and respect American values. Who needs a friend like Turkey that threatens American lives when America speaks its conscience?

In a saner world, where political niceties don't so readily give way to the rituals of denial and retreat, the resolution by a House committee condemning the mass killings of 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during World War I for what it was -- genocide, in a word -- would be too innocuous to command much in the way of presidential attention. But there was President Bush, in ever typical character, urging Congress to retreat from the truth.

The scene on the White House lawn Wednesday might best be described as where the realpolitik championed by Henry Kissinger intersects with the perversion of language, and ultimately veracity, spelled out by George Orwell. To say the obvious about the massacre of Armenians would be to offend the offenders, namely the Turks responsible for such atrocities they deny to this day. And Turkey, of course, is one of the few countries that still supports Mr. Bush in his stubborn determination to stick it out in the Iraq war.

Shipping supplies through Turkey and into Iraq, critical as it is in a nonetheless unwinnable war, becomes a diplomatic obstacle of its own suddenly. Don't say anything, even about the genocide of nearly a century ago, if it's to offend a modern-day ally. So what if Turkey has now taken to dropping uneasy hints about attacking the Kurds? The Bush administration still prefers accommodation and compliance.

The thinking at the White House isn't much different under Mr. Bush than it was under President Clinton, who stopped a similar House resolution. Only the plain-speaking, and at times impolitic, President Reagan was willing to describe what the Turks did to the Armenians in the most appropriately blunt language.

Mr. Bush, by contrast, uses such insulting euphemisms as "the tragic suffering of the Armenian people" as he pleads with the House not to denounce what can't be allowed to be forgotten, overlooked or otherwise qualified or rationalized.

"This resolution is not the right response to these historic mass killings," he says, "and its passage would do great harm to our relations with a key ally in NATO and in the global war on terror."

Rough translation: That was then, World I, and I have my own battle to wage and legacy to salvage.

Imagine how the President, of all people, might react if someone dared to suggest that a condemnation of the Sept. 11 attacks and the terrorists responsible for them would do harm to a larger political goal. Or how he'd respond to someone resisting a resolution honoring the casualties of the Iraq war, on the grounds that the war must be opposed on all fronts and in all ways.

It's troubling that Mr. Bush appears to need to be reminded that the United States is supposed to stand for something, namely some of the grandest ideals and principles imaginable.

The deaths of 1.5 million people at the hands of a crumbling Ottoman Empire to drive Armenians out of eastern Turkey were more than the inevitable consequences the government in Istanbul and some historians say they were. This was genocide. To oppose its condemnation raises some very troubling questions about what this government might do if such atrocities were to be repeated.

THE ISSUE: The White House is hesitant to condemn the mass killings of Armenians.

THE STAKES: Such deference to Turkey puts the U.S. atop a slippery slope.

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.

U.S. officials head to Turkey over genocide dispute

Sat Oct 13, 2007 6:33 AM EDT
Reuters Canada, Canada

Turkey is out to discipline the USA for daring to speak its opinion. First this is not becoming of a great nation and second Turkey should realize that the article 301 under its penal code which prohibits the use of the term genocide by penalizing is counter US values of free speech.

By Arshad Mohammed and Daren Butler
MOSCOW/ANKARA (Reuters) - Two top U.S. officials flew to Ankara on Saturday after a worsening of ties between the NATO allies and fears Turkey will launch a military incursion into northern Iraq to crush Kurdish rebels, diplomats said.

Relations between the two countries have been strained by a U.S. congressional resolution branding as genocide massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915. Some analysts believe the vote could weaken Washington's "restraining" influence on Turkey and make an incursion more likely in coming weeks.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried and U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman will make the trip from Moscow where they have been accompanying Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition he not be named.

The two are likely to hear sharp criticism from the Turkish government, which this week recalled its ambassador to the United States to Ankara for consultations and said U.S.-Turkish relations were in danger because of the resolution.

The Turkish government, which faces pressure from the public and the army to act, has decided to seek approval from parliament next week for a major operation.

Kurdish separatist rebels said on Friday they were crossing back into Turkey to target politicians and police after the prospect of a cross-border military operation emerged.

The United States relies heavily on Turkish bases to supply its war effort in Iraq, where more than 160,000 U.S. troops are trying to restore stability more than four years after the invasion that toppled former dictator Saddam Hussein.

Turkey denies genocide was committed but said many died in inter-ethnic fighting. It remains a sensitive issue, but many Turks are starting to more openly discuss such past taboos.

The U.S. resolution was proposed by a politician with many Armenian-Americans in his district and is the culmination of decades of pressure by a strong Armenian lobby that enjoys wide support in Congress.

CONFERENCE CANCELLED

Ankara has long complained that Washington has not done enough on its own or through the Iraqi government to crack down on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels who use the mountains of northern Iraq as a base to attack Turkish targets.

Turkey blames the PKK for the deaths of more than 30,000 people since the group launched its armed struggle for an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984.

The possibility of a major Turkish military incursion into northern Iraq is deeply troubling to U.S. officials, who fear this could destabilize a relatively peaceful area of Iraq.

The presence of Edelman, who was with Fried in Moscow for a meeting of the U.S. and Russian foreign and defense ministers, may aim to appeal to the Turkish military, a highly influential institution in the mostly Muslim but secular nation. Edelman was U.S. ambassador to Turkey from July 2003 to June 2005.

Amid further signs of repercussions from the resolution, a conference being held by the Turkish-U.S. Business Council in the United States this week was cancelled, along with a visit by Turkish Trade Minister Kursad Tuzmen, CNN Turk television said.

Turkey and the United States are NATO allies but relations have been strained in recent years, particularly after Ankara's refusal to allow the United States to use its territory to stage the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

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.

Inflaming the Turks

October 13, 2007
Boston Globe
Globe Editorial

The Boston Globe editorial by giving credence to the threats, is giving license to Turkey to go ahead with the threats. Where is the American pride when Bush said to Iraqi insurgents "bring them on!"? If Turks have this little regard to American values and lives are they true friends of Americans? Nationalists will always be there as a sword on the head of anyone who dares to apply the word "genocide". When has placating nationalists succeeded? On the contrary this attitude will succeed in encouraging them.

THE HISTORICAL evidence shows that the 1915-1917 massacres of Armenians in eastern Turkey constituted what the world now knows as genocide, and Turkey ought to acknowledge this reality. But a resolution before Congress has provoked an upsurge of nationalism that threatens US interests and would do nothing to lift Turkey's willful amnesia. It should not be pursued at this time.

"There's never a good time," said Speaker Nancy Pelosi this week. She supports the resolution, which was approved by the Foreign Affairs Committee Wednesday and is now before the full House. That committee vote, just one step in the legislative process, prompted protests in Turkey and caused the government to summon its ambassador home. Also this week, unrelated to the vote, the Turkish government sought parliamentary approval for raids into Iraq to pursue Kurdish guerrillas there. And as they have done for over four years, US supply planes shuttled across Turkish air space, via the base at Incirlik, to supply US forces in Iraq.

Approval of the resolution by the House would threaten use of the base and make it harder for US diplomats to persuade the Turkish government to stay out of Iraq. Eight former secretaries of state have warned that its passage would harm US security interests.

This page recognizes the truth of the Armenian genocide, but with the nation embroiled in Iraq, we agree that Congress should not inadvertently complicate the mission of American forces.

The Armenian Assembly of America is right to contend that Turkish denial of the genocide "seeks to rehabilitate the perpetrators and demonize the victims." After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, the Turkish government created a nationalist history that made the Turkish sections of the empire the victims of allied aggression, abetted by the Armenians. Acknowledging the genocide today would tarnish that national image. To discourage revisionist inquiries and control dissent, Turkey enforces a law against insulting "Turkishness." This week, two editors were convicted of violating that law because they reprinted articles stating that the massacres of Armenians constituted genocide. Those articles had been written by another editor, Hrant Dink, who was murdered in January for speaking the truth.

The Turks need to begin an honest dialogue about the birth of their nation and repeal the "Turkishness" laws. Others can help by reminding Turkey, in nongovernmental settings, about the reality of the genocide and by supporting Turks willing to examine their past. Europeans are positioned to take the lead because of Turkey's aspirations to join the European Union. The House resolution, by inciting the worst aspects of Turkish nationalism and creating government-to-government friction, would delay a reckoning with history.

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.

Armenia ‘genocide’ vote is snub to Bush

October 11 2007
Financial Times, UK
By Daniel Dombey in Washington

US legislators on Wednesday defied the Bush administration and angered the Turkish government when they voted to describe the mass killings of Armenians more than eight decades ago as genocide.

The 27-21 decision by the House of Representatives foreign affairs committee, which paves the way for a vote in the full House in coming weeks, came in spite of a warning from George W. Bush, president, and his top officials that co-operation with Turkey and the fate of US troops in Iraq could be at stake.

It also comes as the US seeks to convince Turkey not to carry out a large-scale military incursion into northern Iraq to crack down on Kurdish militants.

Proponents of the measure, which has vigorous support from the Armenian-American population, argue that its call for Mr Bush to “accurately characterise the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1.5m Armenians as genocide” is essential to putting the historical record straight.

“The sad truth is that the modern government of Turkey refuses to come to terms with this genocide,” said Representative Christopher Smith of New Jersey, at an emotionally charged session attended by four survivors of the mass killings that began in 1915.

“Let us do this and be done with it,” said Representative Brad Sherman of California. “We will get a few angry words out of Ankara for a few days, and then it’s over.”

But only hours before the committee voted Mr Bush warned that passage of the resolution “would do great harm to our relations with a key ally in Nato and in the global war on terror”.

According to US commanders in Iraq, including Gen David Petraeus, Robert Gates, defence secretary, said: “Access to airfields and to the roads and so on in Turkey would be very much put at risk if this resolution passes and the Turks react as strongly as we believe they will.” He added that about 70 per cent of US air cargo going into Iraq went through Turkey.

US officials say passage of the resolution by the full House will make Washington’s bid to convince Turkey not to launch a military incursion into Iraq much harder. Public outrage against the Kurdish separatist PKK has flared in the wake of an attack in which 13 soldiers were killed on Sunday.

Washington’s push for Turkey take a more collaborative approach on combating PKK has also been complicated by the resignation of Joseph Ralston, the retired US general who had been seeking to increase Washington-Ankara co-operation against the militant group.

“For his own reasons he decided that he was going to be moving on,” said Sean McCormack, state department spokesman, this week. “Any continuing presence of the PKK or the continuing activities of the PKK is not because what he did or did not do.” He added that he was not yet aware of a possible replacement for Gen Ralston.

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.

U.S. House Panel Backs Armenian Measure Over Turkish Objections

Oct. 10, 2007
By Viola Gienger

This is a sober moment for both USA and Turkey. USA is voting its conscience and affirming its moral high ground. Turkey in turn will realize that threats are counter productive. This is ushering a new era for fighting world genocides.

(Bloomberg) -- A congressional panel approved a resolution calling for the U.S. to designate the World War I-era killings of 1.5 million Armenians as genocide, amid warnings that the measure would harm relations with Turkey.

The nonbinding resolution, backed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee on a vote of 27-21, calls for a reversal in the practice by successive presidential administrations of avoiding referring to the deaths as genocide in an annual April message commemorating the event. More than half of the House's 435 members have signed on as co-sponsors.

``The sad truth is the modern government of Turkey refuses to come to terms with this genocide,'' said Republican Representative Chris Smith of New Jersey. ``It is this denial that keeps the Armenian genocide a burning issue.''

The measure, encouraged for years by ethnic Armenians in the U.S., has prompted threats by Turkey to cut off cooperation with the U.S. in the war in neighboring Iraq. Turkey is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and also borders Syria and Iran.

President George W. Bush and other administration officials warned that the resolution, pushed by California Democrat Adam Schiff, threatens relations with Turkey, an ally the U.S. is relying on for help throughout the Middle East.

`The Tragic Suffering'

``We all deeply regret the tragic suffering of the Armenian people,'' Bush said today on the White House South Lawn. ``This resolution is not the right response to these mass killings.''

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also said the resolution threatens U.S. security interests.

``Access would be very much at risk if this resolution passes,'' Gates said outside the White House.

Turkey denies that a systematic slaughter of Armenians took place, saying Armenians and Turks alike were killed in ethnic clashes between 1915 and 1923 after Armenian groups sided with Russia in World War I.

Passage of the resolution will hurt U.S. efforts to bolster security in Iraq because Turkey will be less inclined to support its NATO ally, Egemen Bagis, an adviser to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told Turkey's CNN Turk news channel.

``This draft resolution will put U.S. soldiers in danger,'' he said. ``If our ally accuses us of crimes that we did not commit then we will start to question the advantages of our cooperation.''

Left to Historians

Defining the incidents should be left to historians, Turkish Ambassador to the U.S. Nabi Sensoy said in a Sept. 13 interview.

The resolution calls on the president to ensure that U.S. foreign policy ``reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity'' related to issues including documented evidence that the event constituted genocide.

Bush also should ``accurately characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation'' of 1.5 million Armenians as a genocide in his annual April message commemorating the killings, according to the resolution.

In previous years, the Bush administration persuaded then House Speaker Dennis Hastert to block such votes. Current Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, has supported genocide resolutions in the past.

California is home to as many as a third of Americans of Armenian descent. California Democratic Representative Adam Schiff, whose district is 11 percent ethnic Armenian according to the Almanac of American Politics, is pushing the measure.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said earlier today that Democratic leaders will push the measure through the House before Congress completes its work for this year.

``It will come to the floor before we leave here on November 16,'' Hoyer said. He and Pelosi met today with Sensoy, who reiterated his warnings that relations between the countries would be harmed.

In the Senate, the measure is co-sponsored by 32 of the 100 members, led by Illinois Democrat Richard Durbin.

Former U.S. Senator Bob Dole urged the House Foreign Affairs Committee members to pass today's resolution.

``I believe that any diplomatic fallout will be transient and that Turkey and the United States have a broad and deep relationship that will survive our recognition of this historic truth,'' he said in a letter to committee members dated Oct. 5.

To contact the reporter on this story: Viola Gienger in Washington at vgienger@bloomberg.net .

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.

Sanctions against US won't affect congressmen, expert warns

Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Turkish Daily News
SERKAN DEMİRTAŞ

Egemen Bağış below makes lots of sense. It will be still better if Turkey recognizes the genocide of the Ottoman Armenians, because doing so will increase its stature in the civilized world.

ANKARA
Egemen Bağış's statements that Turkey can cut its logistic support for American troops stationed in Iraq are not considered very productive. 'I do not think that it will have an impact on the congressmen's decision' Faruk Loğoğlu says

Ahead of a crucial vote in the United States Congress, Turkey's threats on cutting logistic support and strategic cooperation with the U.S. if the genocide bill is approved, will have no affect on members of the Congress, experts warn.

“The sanctions related with Iraq can create a sort of excitement among the Congressmen but I do not think that it will have an impact on them,” said retired Ambassador, Faruk Loğoğlu, now head of the Ankara-based Eurasia Strategic Studies center (ASAM), whose last posting was to Washington D.C.

Congress' Foreign Affairs Committee is expected to approve Wednesday a bill which characterizes the incidents in 1915-1916 in eastern Anatolia as genocide and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a known supporter of the Armenian cause, could then decide to bring it to the House floor for a vote. Many believe that it is very likely that the bill will be approved if put to a vote in the House.

Turkey has been trying hard to stop the process in Congress, through an intense diplomatic campaign aimed at the U.S. Administration and Israel. The messages sent to U.S. officials were that the two long-time allies' relations could be seriously hurt if the bill is approved.


Cutting off support?

“For example, the Americans depend on Turkey for a large part of their logistic support in Iraq. We would be obliged to cut this support,” Egemen Bağış, deputy leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) who left for Washington D.C. yesterday to lobby the congressmen, was quoted by daily Hürriyet.

But Bağış softened his words at a press conference he held before his departure. “Turkey has a lot of options but it is not my responsibility to evaluate which of them could be used. The daily Hürriyet has exaggerated the scenarios. But we will be doing everything to stop the approval of the bill,” he said.

Among the mentioned sanctions are closing the İncirlik base, in Turkey's south to the American military to supply its troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, not allowing the withdrawal of American troops through Turkish territory, and suspending some of the military equipment purchases.


Government has to decide

But according to Loğoğlu, threatening the members of Congress with such sanctions is not likely to work. “In general, I may say that such threats won't have any influence on the congressmen's decision,” he said.

“What is important here is the government's will and its purpose. Is it going to be good or bad? I always think that before applying such sanctions, they have to be analyzed on scales: Who will be most hurt by the sanctions? Us or them? They have to be applied if it is going to be the other party who will be hurt most,” he added.

Loğoğlu underlined that the U.S. has many allies in the region and can use their bases in some other countries. The U.S. has established military bases in Bulgaria and Romania after Turkey's rejection of a U.S. request to use Turkish bases and territory.

“Instead we should inform the congressmen about the U.N.'s Convention on Genocide and Turkey's proposal to Armenia for establishing a joint commission of historians to analyze the incidents. We may not convince many of them but we can shake their position a little bit,” the retired ambassador said.

The recognition of the Armenian genocide in the parliaments of third countries is one of the most serious problems Turkey is faced with in the international arena. A dozen or so countries, including Turkey's allies in NATO, have recognized the events in 1915-1916 as genocide.

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.

Turkey may cut support to U.S. over Armenia bill: MP

Mon Oct 8, 2007 6:11am EDT

Turkey's denial of the genocide of Armenians is the continuation of genocide of 1915-1923.

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey may cut logistic support to U.S. troops in Iraq if the U.S. Congress backs a bill branding as genocide the 1915 massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turks, a senior ruling AK Party lawmaker was quoted as saying on Monday.

Congress's Foreign Affairs Committee is expected to approve on Wednesday a bill on the genocide issue and speaker Nancy Pelosi, a known supporter of the Armenian cause, could then decide to bring it to the House floor for a vote.

Turkey, a NATO ally of Washington, strongly denies Armenian claims, backed by many Western historians and a number of foreign parliaments, that up to 1.5 million ethnic Armenians suffered genocide at Turkish hands during World War One.

It says many Muslim Turks as well as Christian Armenians died in inter-ethnic conflict as the Ottoman Empire collapsed.

"Don't accept this bill. If you do, we will be obliged to do many things we do not want to do," the top-selling Hurriyet daily quoted AK Party deputy leader Egemen Bagis as saying.

"For example, the Americans depend on Turkey for a large part of their logistical support in Iraq. We would be obliged to cut this support," he was quoted as saying.

Bagis was speaking in a personal capacity, but Turkey's government has many times urged foreign countries, including the United States, not to pass such resolutions, saying historians, not politicians, should judge historic events.

Last year, Turkey froze military and some commercial cooperation with France after the French National Assembly backed a bill that would make it a crime to deny the Armenian genocide, although the bill never became law.

U.S. forces in both Iraq and Afghanistan get many of their supplies via the Incirlik military base in southern Turkey.

Contacted by Reuters, Bagis declined to say what specific measures Turkey might take but said: "This bill might please Armenian Americans for a few days but it would definitely have a long-lasting negative effect on the relationship between two strategic allies."

Bagis noted in his comments to Hurriyet that Turkish public opinion has already turned very anti-American due to the Iraq war and Washington's failure to crack down on Kurdish rebels who use northern Iraq as a base from which to attack Turkey.

"If the bill passes, pressure from public opinion (to take action against U.S. interests) will be very strong," he said.

Bagis left for Washington with two other Turkish lawmakers on Monday to lobby Congress to drop the bill.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan raised Turkey's concerns with President George W. Bush in a telephone conversation last Friday. The Bush administration is opposed to the bill but Congress is now dominated by its Democratic opponents.

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.

Head of Turkey's Parliament tells U.S. House speaker Armenia genocide bill will harm ties

International Herald Tribune, France - Oct 7, 2007
The Associated Press

After decades of official cover-up, it is time for Turkey to admit the genocide of Ottoman Armenians. Turkey's greatness is no longer measured in power like it was during Ottoman times but it is measured in moral fortitude. For the sake of world civilization Turkey must do the right thing.

ISTANBUL, Turkey: The head of Turkey's Parliament warned the United States against passing an Armenian genocide bill, saying in a letter to the U.S. House speaker that the move would harm bilateral ties, his office said Sunday.

Parliament Speaker Koksal Toptan said in his letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that "it might take decades to heal negative effects of the bill if it passes," Toptan's office said in a statement.

Toptan — who is elected by the legislative body to chair parliamentary sessions — is considered neutral toward all political parties.

The genocide bill declares the killings of Armenians between 1915 and 1917 a genocide, though it would have no binding effect on the U.S. foreign policy. The U.S. House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Committee is expected to consider the legislation this week.

Toptan's letter said the passing of the bill would be declared by Armenians as a confirmation of their view of the historical dispute.

On Friday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told U.S. President George W. Bush that the measure would "harm the strategic partnership" between the two countries.

Toptan said Armenia did not respond positively to Turkish proposal to establish a commission of historians to examine Turkish and Armenian archives and to share their findings with the public.

Armenians say more than 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a systematic genocide in the hands of the Ottomans during the World War I, before modern Turkey was born in 1923.

Turkey says the death toll is inflated and that the deaths occurred at a time of civil unrest.

Public opinion polls show that the United States has become widely unpopular in Turkey because of opposition to U.S. policy in Iraq.

After France voted last year to make denial of Armenian genocide a crime, the Turkish government ended military ties. A similar move with the United States could have repercussions on operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, which rely heavily on Turkish support.

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.

Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan Calls President Bush On Genocide Bill

MEMRI, DC - Oct 7, 2007
Source: All Turkish dailies and TV channels, October 6, 2007

Plastering the Armenian genocide for reasons of self interest is downright immoral. I hope USA will not subject its moral fortitude to the whim of Turkish nationalist genocide deniers. I have more respect for a little nation that stands up against deniers than those large nations who deny the Armenian genocide. Greatness is not measured in power.

In a phone call to the U.S. President, PM Erdogan told him that the strategic partnership between the two countries will be harmed if the U.S. Congress passes the bill on Armenian “genocide”. Erdogan said that this bill will not serve the interests of Turkey or the U.S.; and will hurt the chances for developing any relations between Turkey and Armenia. It was reported that President Bush told PM Erdogan that he understood him, that he too was concerned about the resolution and that he and his team would work hard to prevent its passage.

It is unclear how much influence the Bush administration will have in the Congress now dominated by Democrats who are more submissive to the demands of the Armenian Diaspora.

Turkey is a key NATO ally of Washington that supports the U.S. needs in the region, in Iraq and Afghanistan.

There have been warnings voiced among Turkish political circles that Ankara could consider shutting down Incirlik air base to U.S. use, as well as its borders with Iraq, cutting the supply lines and causing serious problems for the U.S. military fighting in Iraq.

PM Erdogan also placed calls to President Clinton and to Israel’s President Shimon Peres, to ask for Israel’s support. Peres in return reiterated that his country will continue to support Turkey's position.

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.

Resolution on Armenia Genocide Opposed

The Associated Press - Oct 6, 2007
By DESMOND BUTLER

Below, Turkey threatens USA if the resolution on the Armenian Genocide is brought to the floor where US lawmakers will speak their conscience. What sort of friend threatens a friend when the latter speaks his or hers conscience?

WASHINGTON (AP) — Turkish and American officials have been pressing lawmakers to reject a measure next week that would declare the World War I-era killings of Armenians a genocide.

On Friday, the issue reached the highest levels as President Bush and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan talked by telephone about their opposition to the legislation, which is to go before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday.

The dispute involves the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians during the waning years of the Ottoman Empire.

Armenian advocates, backed by many historians, contend the Armenians died in an organized genocide. The Turks say the Armenians were victims of widespread chaos and governmental breakdown as the 600-year-old empire collapsed in the years before Turkey was born in 1923.

Armenian supporters of the congressional measure, who seem to have enough votes to get approval by both the committee and the full House, have also been mustering a grass-roots campaign among the large diaspora community in the United States to make sure that a successful committee vote leads to consideration by the full House.

One interest group, the Armenian National Committee of America, has engaged about 100,000 supporters to call lawmakers about the issue, according to Executive Director Aram Hamparian.

Similar measures have been debated in Congress for decades. But well-organized Armenian groups have repeatedly been thwarted by concerns about damaging relations with Turkey, an important NATO ally that has made its opposition clear.

Lawmakers say that this time, the belief that the resolution has a chance to pass a vote by the full House has both Turkey and Armenian groups pulling out all stops to influence the members of the committee.

"The lobbying has been the most intense that I have ever seen it," said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

Though the largely symbolic measure would have no binding effect on U.S. foreign policy, it could nonetheless damage an already strained relationship with Turkey.

After France voted last year to make denial of Armenian genocide a crime, the Turkish government ended military ties.

Many in the U.S. fear that a public backlash in Turkey could lead to restrictions on crucial supply routes through Turkey to Iraq and Afghanistan and the closure of Incirlik, a strategic air base in Turkey used by the United States. Lawmakers have been hearing arguments from both sides about those concerns.

The Turkish government has been holding back from public threats while making clear that there will be consequences if the resolution is passed.

"There will be a backlash and no government can be indifferent to that," says the Turkish ambassador in Washington, Nabi Sensoy.

But Armenian groups charge that behind the scenes, Turkey has been much more clear.

"Turkey has been threatening every sort of doomsday scenario," says Hamparian. "We have been saying that Turkey would harm itself more than the United States if it carries through with these threats."

Turkey argues that the House is the wrong institution to arbitrate a sensitive historical dispute. It has proposed that an international commission of experts examine Armenian and Turkish archives.

In the meantime, the Turkish embassy has been in close contact with lawmakers and is using prominent U.S. lobbyists.

"I have redoubled my efforts," says Sensoy. Turkish lawmakers have also been manning the phones to congressional offices.

According to one congressional aide, Turkey's military chief, Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, has been calling lawmakers to argue that a vote will boost support for Islamists in Turkey. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The Bush administration has been telling lawmakers that the resolution, if passed, would harm U.S. security interests.

Gordon Johndroe, a White House spokesman, said Friday that Bush believes the Armenian episode ranks among the greatest tragedies of the 20th century, but the determination whether "the events constitute a genocide should be a matter for historical inquiry, not legislation."

White House staff have also spoken with aides to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in the hope that she will stop the measure from coming to a vote.

"The administration has reached out to the speaker's office and made our position clear," he said. "We'll see what happens."

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.

TURKISH NATIONALISTS THREATENING ARMENIANS

15/05/2007
AZG Armenian Daily #090

On May 14 "Global Hay" news agency sent to "Azg" the copy of a message, received by "Surb Levon Vardukhian" Armenian school in Istanbul.

On the very first page of the message the following inscription could be found: "This was sent to all institutions concerned with the matter. This movement was started for the sake of Turkey’s future and its unity. Regards".

The next pages featured a long text, entitled "The Last Warning and Ultimatum", and accusing Armenians in separatism and efforts to ruin the Turkish statehood. The message also told of the Murder of Hrant Dink. "…exclamations "We are all Armenians, we are all Hrant Dink" are examples of extreme chauvinism and summons for revolution. Do not forget that except Armenian citizens of Turkey, there are also Armenians from Armenia on our land, and they count over 100 thousand. Both their addresses and their workplaces are well known. Henceforth we hope to see our Armenian citizens as advocates of truth, concerning the Armenian Genocide or any other matter, and as defenders of the Turkish statehood. We shall keep an eye on how the Armenians are playing this role. Otherwise the Armenians shall be those to lie in the grave and count how many Armenians and how many Turks there were in the ‘ages long past’. This land has never pardoned treachery and shall not. Who does not stand for our paradise-homeland is against us and shall be vanquished", says the message.

The text ends with the following words. "There is no defense line. That line is the entire territory. Anything else is just trifles when the fate of the homeland is the matter. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk". "This is the last ultimatum. It is not to be repeated" – say the last words of the message.

This latest expression of Turkish violent nationalism is unsigned. Nevertheless the quote from Ataturk must remind us of the Kemalist chauvinistic movement. This movement is called to protect the statehood of Turkey, and that statehood is supervised by the Special Forces Department of the army, which was the initiator of political crisis during the presidential elections in Turkey. Thus, the spiteful message should be ascribed to the armed forces of Turkey and linked with the political events about the presidential elections.

By H. Chaqrian

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.

U.S. in war of words with Turkey

Sunday, April 29th 2007
DAILY NEWS
BY KENNETH R. BAZINET
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

Armenian genocide tag'll cost us Iraq supply lines, pols {in Turkey} say

WASHINGTON - Turkish lawmakers are threatening to cut off essential supply lines to U.S. forces in Iraq if Congress officially blames Turkey for the Armenian genocide of 1915, Turkish and U.S. officials tell the Daily News.

"It's not subtle. They outright threaten to do it, and even have soldiers calling congressmen saying, 'You're going to cut us off if you do that,'" said Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), co-chairman of the bipartisan Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues.

Armenian-Americans have long lobbied for official recognition of the atrocities committed in Turkish Armenia during World War I, but it's likely the resolution may finally come up for a House vote because of the backing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

"It would be an insult to Turkey, and it would not be helpful," warned Egeman Bagis, a member of the Turkish parliament and foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Recep Erdogan.

Egeman pointed out that "at least 60% of the supplies that go to U.S. forces in Iraq now pass through Turkey." Asked whether NATO member Turkey would actually cut off those supply lines, he said, "It could happen."

But the Armenian movement is growing. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger didn't wait for Congress, proclaiming last week "Days of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide."

Egeman insists Turkey will open its archives to show it was not genocide, but scholars and many European nations agree that a {one and a} half-million Armenians perished under orders from the Ottoman Empire.

About two dozen countries recognize the Armenian genocide, according to the Armenian National Institute. Every time the issue comes up, Turkey threatens to cut off relations or trade. It made similar threats to Canada and France when they officially recognized the genocide, but relations have since normalized.

"Genocide is a universal problem that is not going away. If you don't remember genocide, it emboldens the perpetrators, and it occurs again and again," said George Shirinian, director of the Zoryan Institute for Contemporary Armenian Research and Documentation.

kbazinet@nydailynews.com

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.

Turkey warns Canada not to issue genocide declaration

Wednesday, April 25, 2007
ANKARA – Turkish Daily News

It is high time that nations stand up and be counted. We have a bully nation in our midst.

Turkey warned Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper last week not to issue an April 24 declaration where the incidents of 1915 are defined as genocide, a day of commemoration for Armenians but a nightmare for Turkish diplomats. The Canadian Parliament recognized the Armenian genocide and Harper became one of the few heads of state to use the word “genocide” in his written statement during 2006.

Wary of these genocide claims spreading to other countries including the United States, Turkey is trying hard to block efforts by the Armenian diaspora in almost every country in the world.

The Turkish Daily News has learned that Canadian Prime Minister Harper was warned through diplomatic channels last week that “repeating these claims annually will not help in normalizing Turkey-Armenia relations and will harm Turkish-Canadian bilateral relations as well.” “We hope that the Canadian PM will not repeat this year what he did last year,” a high-level Foreign Ministry official told the TDN.

Ankara made the same diplomatic attempt with the United States before April 24 where President George W. Bush also issues a declaration. Turkish officials said Ankara is not expecting Bush to use the word genocide. U.S. presidents prefer to define the incidents in 1915 as a massacre.

Meanwhile the Turkish Foreign Ministry published advertisements in four major U.S. newspapers, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Times and Politico. The advertisement says that Turkey has given assurances for the opening of all archives and expects the same by other parties. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül, speaking to reporters during the April 23 reception in Parliament said, The New York Times decision in particular to publish the advertisement was a good step for Turkey to promote its own views about what occurred in 1915.

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.

Robert Fisk: Caught in the deadly web of the internet

21 April 2007
The Independent
By Robert Fisk

US and Canadian officials now appear to be detaining the innocent on the grounds of hate postings on the internet. And it is the innocent - guilty until proved otherwise, I suppose - who must now pay lawyers to protect them from Homeland Security and the internet. But as Akcam says, there is nothing he can do.
[...]
Put very simply, how much smut are the US and Canadian immigration authorities taking off the internet? And how much of it is now going to be flung at us when we queue at airports to go about our lawful business?

Any political filth or personal libel can be hurled at the innocent

Could it possibly be that the security men who guard the frontiers of North America are supporting Holocaust denial? Alas, it's true. Here's the story.

Taner Akcam is the distinguished Turkish scholar at the University of Minnesota who, with immense courage, proved the facts of the Armenian genocide - the deliberate mass murder of up to a million and a half Armenians by the Ottoman Turkish authorities in 1915 - from Turkish documents and archives. His book A Shameful Act was published to great critical acclaim in Britain and the United States.

He is now, needless to say, being threatened with legal action in Turkey under the infamous Law 301 - which makes a crime of insulting "Turkishness" - but it's probably par for the course for a man who was granted political asylum in Germany after receiving an eight-year prison sentence in his own country for articles he had written in a student journal; Amnesty International had already named him a prisoner of conscience.

But Mr Akcam has now become a different kind of prisoner: an inmate of the internet hate machine, the circle of hell in which any political filth or personal libel can be hurled at the innocent without any recourse to the law, to libel lawyers or to common decency. The Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink was misquoted on the internet for allegedly claiming that Turkish blood was "poisonous"; this total lie - Dink never said such a thing - prompted a young man to murder him in an Istanbul street.

But Taner Akcam's experience is potentially far more serious for all of us. As he wrote in a letter to me this month, "Additional to the criminal investigation (law 301) in Turkey, there is a hate campaign going on here in the USA, as a result of which I cannot travel internationally any more... My recent detention at the Montreal airport - apparently on the basis of anonymous insertions in my Wikipedia biography - signals a disturbing new phase in a Turkish campaign of intimidation that has intensified since the November 2006 publication of my book."

Akcam was travelling to lecture in Montreal and took the Northwest Airlines flight from Minneapolis on 16 February this year. The Canadian immigration officer, Akcam says, was "courteous" - but promptly detained him at Montreal's Trudeau airport. Even odder, the Canadian immigration officer asked him why he needed to be detained. Akcam tells me he gave the man a brief history of the genocide and of the campaign of hatred against him in the US by Turkish groups "controlled by ... Turkish diplomats" who "spread propaganda stating that I am a member of a terrorist organisation".

All this went on for four hours while the immigration officer took notes and made phone calls to his bosses. Akcam was given a one-week visa and the Canadian officer showed him - at Akcam's insistence - a piece of paper which was the obvious reason for his temporary detention.

"I recognised the page at once," Akcam says. "The photo was a still from a 2005 documentary on the Armenian genocide... The still photo and the text beneath it comprised my biography in the English language edition of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia which anyone in the world can modify at any time. For the last year ... my Wikipedia biography has been persistently vandalised by anonymous 'contributors' intent on labelling me as a terrorist. The same allegations has been repeatedly scrawled, like gangland graffiti, as 'customer reviews' of my books at Amazon."

Akcam was released, but his reflections on this very disturbing incident are worth recording. "It was unlikely, to say the least, that a Canadian immigration officer found out that I was coming to Montreal, took the sole initiative to research my identity on the internet, discovered the archived version of my Wikipedia biography, printed it out on 16 February, and showed it to me - voilà! - as a result."

But this was not the end. Prior to his Canadian visit, two Turkish-American websites had been hinting that Akcam's "terrorist activities" should be of interest to American immigration authorities. And sure enough, Akcam was detained yet again - for another hour - by US Homeland Security officers at Montreal airport before boarding his flight at Montreal for Minnesota two days later.

On this occasion, he says that the American officer - US Homeland Security operates at the Canadian airport - gave him a warning: "Mr Akcam, if you don't retain an attorney and correct this issue, every entry and exit from the country is going to be problematic. We recommend that you do not travel in the meantime and that you try to get this information removed from your customs dossier."

So let's get this clear. US and Canadian officials now appear to be detaining the innocent on the grounds of hate postings on the internet. And it is the innocent - guilty until proved otherwise, I suppose - who must now pay lawyers to protect them from Homeland Security and the internet. But as Akcam says, there is nothing he can do.

"Allegations against me, posted by the Assembly of Turkish American Associations, Turkish Forum and 'Tall Armenia Tale' (a Holocaust denial website) have been copy-pasted and recycled through innumerable websites and e-groups ever since I arrived in America. By now, my name in close proximity to the English word 'terrorist' turns up in well over 10,000 web pages."

I'm not surprised. There is no end to the internet's circle of hate. What does shock me, however, is that the men and women chosen to guard their nations against Osama bin Laden and al-Qa'ida are reading this dirt and are prepared to detain an honourable scholar such as Taner Akcam on the basis of it.

I don't think the immigration lads are to blame. I once remember listening to a Canadian official at Toronto airport carefully explaining to a Palestinian visitor that he was not required to tell any police officer about his religion or personal beliefs, that he should feel safe in Canada.

No, it's their bosses in Ottawa and Washington I wonder about. Put very simply, how much smut are the US and Canadian immigration authorities taking off the internet? And how much of it is now going to be flung at us when we queue at airports to go about our lawful business?

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.

Turkey never blackmailed or threatened U.S.

13.04.2007
PanARMENIAN.Net

It takes a grain of salt to accept the politic-speak of Daniel Fried below. It will never be a good time for Turkey.

The Turkish Government has never blackmailed or threatened the U.S. Government. They have never said that they will take retaliatory steps if the Armenian Genocide resolution passes, said Daniel Fried, Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at a daily press briefing posted at www.state.gov.

“The Turkish government has said that Turkish opinion would be inflamed and outraged by this resolution and that they, the Turkish government, fear what the Turkish parliament might do in reaction to something our parliament might do. So it’s a little bit different than what you described.

Turkey is a good ally. It is also a country which is undergoing a profound democratic transformation itself. Turkey has for decades had the formal elements of democracy, but in the last 10, 15, 20 years it has deepened this democracy, and especially in the last 5 to 10 years. The boundaries of freedom of expression are now much greater than they were before. Civilian institutions are much stronger. The role of the military is much more circumscribed. These things are advancing, and as this happens there is a growing discussion in Turkey about their own past, and in particular the past of the Ottoman Empire and its relationship to the Armenian community there and the mass killings that took place in 1915 and afterwards. Turks are beginning to discuss this.

We encourage them to examine their history and the painful, what can be called dark spots, and they’re not the only country that has them. The United States has plenty of our own: slavery, treatment of American Indians, treatment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. We have a lot of things in our history of which we’re not proud.

We think that Turkey and Armenia need to discuss their shared past in a serious way. This needs to be a discussion that historians have. The United States doesn’t deny any of the killings. They’re an established historical fact, but historians need to discuss the details of what happened, why it happened, who did what. This needs to happen, and it needs to happen as a process of genuine national reconciliation.

We also think that Turkey ought to open up the border with Armenia and restore normal relations. We’re pleased by recent steps Turkey has taken, like restoring the Armenian church in Eastern Turkey, even if as a museum. That’s still something. And there is in Turkish society a constituency for this kind of reconciliation. Hrant Dink was murdered by an extremist nationalist, but then 100,000 Turks were in the street saying we are all Armenians, we are all Hrant Dink. It didn’t mean literally that they’re Armenians, but it means we reject nationalism. We embrace a Turkish identity which is tolerant. That’s very hopeful. That’s a very good thing. That’s what we want to encourage,” Fried said.

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.