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rfmcdonaldFrom Reuters:
Not withstanding my dislike for Bush and his policies and certain determined ahistorical brands of Turkish nationalism, it is quite true that US Congressional recognition of the Armenian genocide will strain the Turkish-American relationship quite badly and do bad things generally to the heart of the old Ottoman shatterbelt (look to Iraqi Kurdistan and the idea of Turkish military interventions against terrorists there, for starters). Then again, given how there doesn't seem to be much interest in avoiding confrontations and breakdowns, would American recognition of the Armenian genocide by anything more than a simple excuse for mayhem? Or, I hope, am I actually being overly pessimistic in my evaluations?
A U.S. House committee approved on Wednesday a resolution calling the 1915 massacres of Armenians genocide, brushing aside White House warnings that it would do "great harm" to ties with NATO ally Turkey, a key supporter in the Iraq war.
The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee approved the resolution 27-21. It now goes to the House floor, where Democratic leaders say there will be a vote by mid-November. There is a companion bill in the Senate, but both measures are strictly symbolic, and do not require the president's signature.
Turkey calls the resolution an insult and rejects the Armenian position, backed by many Western historians, that up to 1.5 million Armenians suffered genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks during World War One.
Turkey has warned of damage to bilateral ties if Congress passes the measure, and President George W. Bush made the same point before the vote Wednesday.
"This resolution is not the right response to these historic mass killings, and its passage would do great harm to our relations with a key ally in NATO and in the global war on terror," Bush said at the White House.
Not withstanding my dislike for Bush and his policies and certain determined ahistorical brands of Turkish nationalism, it is quite true that US Congressional recognition of the Armenian genocide will strain the Turkish-American relationship quite badly and do bad things generally to the heart of the old Ottoman shatterbelt (look to Iraqi Kurdistan and the idea of Turkish military interventions against terrorists there, for starters). Then again, given how there doesn't seem to be much interest in avoiding confrontations and breakdowns, would American recognition of the Armenian genocide by anything more than a simple excuse for mayhem? Or, I hope, am I actually being overly pessimistic in my evaluations?
