06/03/2010 A resolution by a US congressional committee branding the killing of Armenians during World War I as "genocide" has triggered protests in Turkey. Protesters on Friday marched in front of the US embassy in Ankara, the Turkish capital, chanting "God damn American imperialism".
"This is another game of the United States of America. Turkey never committed genocide but we defend our land," the Associated Press news agency quoted one protester as saying.
A London-based Arabic-language newspaper said on Saturday that Jewish lobbyists contrived the U.S. congressional vote. Pro-Israel lobbyists had previously backed Turkey on the issue but changed tack in retaliation for Turkish condemnation of Israel's policies in the Gaza Strip, the Al-Quds Al-Arabi daily said in an editorial.
In his leading article, Al-Quds Al-Arabi editor Abd al-Bari Atwan urged Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan not to give in to the Jewish lobby's "extortion" tactics.
Turkey recalled its ambassador to the US and condemned Washington's move to declare the killing of Armenians by Ottoman forces in the first world war a "genocide". "We condemn this resolution which accuses the Turkish nation of a crime it has not committed," Ankara said in a statement on Thursday. "Following this development, our ambassador to Washington, Namik Tan, was recalled to Ankara for consultations."
The announcement came minutes after the US House of Representatives' foreign affairs committee passed a non-binding measure in a 23-22 vote on Thursday, calling on the administration to ensure US policy formally refers to the 1915 mass killings of Armenians as genocide.
There are fears the resolution, if adopted, could damage Turkey's peace efforts with Armenia. But Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said the resolution would not be adopted.
Ankara said the outcome of the US panel's vote demonstrated "a lack of strategic vision" among US legislators at a time when Turkey and the US "are working together on a broad common agenda".
Abdullah Gul, Turkey's president, said the resolution had "no value in the eyes of the Turkish people" and warned that it would deal a blow on fledgling efforts to end decades of hostility between Turkey and Armenia.
Turks pay price for supporting Palestinians
Timing of US resolution dubbing massacre of Armenians 'genocide' is suspicious
- Gulf News
- Published: 00:00 March 6, 2010
Ankara must have known its new positioning in Middle East politics, which angered Israel, will have some sort of consequences. After all, the Israelis never expected that their supposedly close Turkish allies would lobby international public opinion to condemn Israeli war crimes in Gaza. The highlight of the new Turkish attitude was when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan walked out of a panel discussion, in Davos World Economic Forum last year, to protest Israeli President Shimon Peres' defence of Israel's devastating offensive on Gaza. But Turkey apparently never anticipated that the consequences of its new Middle East policy would come in a politically-motivated resolution passed on Thursday by a US House committee calling the Ottoman-era massacre of Armenians "genocide." The US has been against the label for years, even as some European nations passed such resolutions few years ago. The move by the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee has understandably angered Ankara, which recalled its ambassador. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called on President Barack Obama to block the resolution. Armenians say up to 1.5 million people were killed during First World War by their Ottoman rulers as the empire was falling apart. Turkey argues 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in what was a civil strife when Armenians rose up for independence and sided with invading Russian troops. The US has actually backed last October's talks between Turkey and Armenia to end decades of hostility. The two countries also signed a deal to establish diplomatic relations and open their border. Thus, the timing is calling into question the motive behind the committee's resolution, especially when the sponsors of the bill are three well-known pro-Israel lawmakers. The Turks should have known that this was coming. Other countries in the region, despite their close relations to the US, were faced with similar ‘political extortion' tactics from pro-Israeli members of the US Congress. Welcome to the Middle East politics.
Pro-Israel bunch to Turkish military: "Do it already!"
On the heels of Congress, the campaign against Turkey continues in Israel and trickles to the likes of WINEP and on to the US Congress ...WINEP/ here
"... U.S. diplomats I have talked to and Turkish analysts say that if the military really had planned to overthrow the government, it would have hardly written it down in a detailed 5,000 page document. The idea that the military would bomb Istanbul's historic mosques and shoot down its own planes to precipitate such a coup -- as the alleged memo describes -- is simply outlandish. The military denies any plans for toppling the government and says much of the document is actually taken from a 2003 war game exercise. It says that the incriminating elements detailing the alleged coup were added to the document.
For the past two years, the Turkish military has been the target of illegal wiretaps and accusations that it is plotting against the government. The question is whether the military will tolerate the assault or strike back, as it has done in the past when it thought the secular nature of the state was threatened.
The Islamist government has also targeted Turkey's other secular bastion -- the judiciary. Last month, a Gulenist prosecutor arrested a secular prosecutor in Erzincan. He was officially charged with belonging to an ultranationalist gang known as Ergenekon, which the Gulenists and AKP claim is trying to overthrow the government. Whether that's true or not, there is no doubt the arrest solved a lot of problems for the government. Before his arrest, the Erzincan prosecutor was investigating alleged connections between Gulenist fund raising and Hamas terrorists. He was also looking into the armed activities of Ismailaga, a radical Islamist movement....
Hoping to win Ankara's support for tougher Iran sanctions and more troops in Afghanistan, the U.S. and Europe have so far been hesitant to criticize the AKP-led government. The "pragmatists" fail to realize that an illiberal and Islamist Turkey will be increasingly opposed to Western policies."
Posted by G, Z, or B at 3:36 PM
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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