Anti-Defamation League calls massacres "genocide"; Turkey protests

24/08/2007

Ankara is hoping that Israel will convince a prominent US-based Jewish group to reverse its stance on the massacres of Armenians during the waning years of the Ottoman Empire.

(Zaman, Haaretz - 24/08/07; AFP, DPA, UPI, The Jerusalem Post, Los Angeles Times, Anti-Defamation League - 23/08/07; AP, Anti-Defamation League - 21/08/07)

"Upon reflection, the consequences of those actions were indeed tantamount to genocide," ADL Director Abraham Foxman said. [AFP]

Turkish officials voiced disappointment Thursday (August 23rd) over a major Jewish organisation's decision earlier this week to term the mass killings of Armenians in the waning years of the Ottoman Empire a genocide.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) noted on Tuesday that it had previously "described the painful events of 1915-1918 perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenians as massacres and atrocities".

However, the group now shares the view "that the consequences of those actions were indeed tantamount to genocide", ADL national director Abraham Foxman said in a statement. "If the word genocide had existed then, they would have called it genocide," he added.

Foxman expressed opposition, however, to a proposed US congressional resolution declaring the Armenian killings a genocide. Such a move, he said, would be "counterproductive" and "will not foster reconciliation between Turks and Armenians".

In addition, he said, it could "put at risk the Turkish Jewish community and the important multilateral relationship between Turkey, Israel and the United States".

Armenians maintain that 1.5 million of their kin were killed in a genocidal campaign by the Ottoman Turks at the time of World War I. While acknowledging that thousands of Armenians did indeed perish during the general turbulence of the period, Turkey insists that the number of victims is exaggerated, that mass numbers of Turks also died, and that no deliberate campaign of genocide took place.

Seeking to avoid a potential setback in its ties with Turkey, a military ally, Israeli President Shimon Peres called Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday to reassure him that his country wants to maintain good relations with Turkey.

According to the Turkish daily Zaman, Peres has also promised to "advocate Turkey's position on the issue in the United States".

"This is a highly sensitive issue for Turkey, and we have signalled to them that there is no change in our position and that we do not wish to harm the friendly ties between our countries," an Israeli Foreign Ministry official told the daily Haaretz on Thursday. "We believe that they have understood our message."

Turkey's Jewish community has criticised the ADL's move. "We have difficulty in understanding why the ADL, one of the most important Jewish organisations in the United States, has changed [its] stance," community leaders said in a statement. "We have difficulty in understanding recent developments among the US public and the sudden change of views that caused difference of opinion among some Jewish organisations."

On Wednesday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry rejected the ADL's suggestion that a "consensus" among historians exists on the Armenian genocide issue. "The ADL's attempt to rewrite history via a decision it made constitutes a contradiction and its justification cannot be understood," Foreign Ministry spokesman Levent Bilman said.

In 2005, Erdogan sent a letter to Armenian President Robert Kocharian calling for the establishment of a joint expert commission to examine the events surrounding the killings. But there has been no positive response from Armenia yet, said Bilman.

In a new statement Thursday, Foxman urged the ADL to "encourage steps to create an atmosphere in which Armenia will respond favourably" to Turkey's proposal, in order to help the parties "in achieving a resolution of their profound differences".