Flap over genocide resolution strains Turkish-US ties

11/03/2010

Saying it is a matter of national honour, Ankara voices anger over a non-binding resolution that describes the WWI-era massacre of Armenians as genocide.

By Erol Izmirli for Southeast European Times in Istanbul -- 11/03/10

Turkish Ambassador to the United States Namik Tan was recalled after the March 4th vote on the Armenian genocide resolution. [Getty Image]

AAnkara says Turkish Ambassador to the United States Namik Tan will not be returning to Washington until the future of the so-called "Armenian genocide" bill becomes known.

By a vote of 23-22, the US House Foreign Affairs Committee approved the resolution on March 4th, prompting Ankara to recall Tan. The measure is non-binding and has no actual impact on policy.

Nevertheless, it has affected ties between Ankara and Washington, two close NATO allies. "The US should not lose a strategic partner as Turkey because of such an issue," Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters Tuesday (March 9th).

The resolution accuses Turkey "of a crime that it has not committed", the Turkish government said in its first reaction to the committee vote.

The measure calls on the Obama administration to ensure that US policy formally refers to the World War I-era killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as "genocide", and mandates that President Barack Obama use the term when he delivers his annual message on the issue in April -- something he avoided doing last year.

While acknowledging that many Armenians perished during the waning days of the Ottoman Empire, Turkish leaders insist the tragedy was due to an overall state of anarchy and violence, which also claimed Turkish lives.

Turkey denies there was any systematic programme to eliminate Armenians. Turkish citizens who speak of the massacres have been jailed under a 2005 statute -- Article 301 --which outlaws "insults" to the Turkish nation.

Scholars have put the number of Armenians killed in Turkey around 1915 at more than one million.

The flap comes as a Turkey and neighbouring Armenia are engaged in a diplomatic process to end decades-old hostility through two protocols signed in last November. The countries will normalise ties and open the border following ratification of the protocols by each nation's parliament.

Erdogan's office is planning to consult with President Abdullah Gul as well as opposition parties -- if necessary -- to discuss future steps and formulate a common policy on the issue. Davutoglu described the US allegations as "a matter of national honour for us".

Armenian-American groups welcomed passage of the resolution, saying their next objective will be the resolution's endorsement by the full US House of Representatives.

"Truth prevailed today, and the cause of genocide affirmation and prevention has been furthered," said Bryan Ardouny, executive director of the Armenian Assembly of America, a large Armenian-American organisation headquartered in Washington.

The Armenian government called the vote an important step forward for human rights.

"This is [more] proof of the devotion of the American people to universal human values and is an important step towards the prevention of crimes against humanity," Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said in a statement Friday.

But Turkish officials say the measure will hinder rather than help the process of rapprochement. "Every decision you take in [this] fashion has been blocking Turks' peace with the Armenians. Please review this issue," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said after the committee vote.

His ministry has asked US Ambassador to Ankara James Jeffrey to relay Turkey's concerns. In short remarks to the press after meeting with Turkish Foreign Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Selim Yenel, Jeffrey said the Obama administration opposed the resolution.

Similar resolutions passed the same committee in 2000, 2005 and 2007, but none of them reached a House floor vote.