Thoughts/Venting on the Genocide Resolution and Turkish Ignorance
After a lengthy hiatus, I am moved to write again for the blog. Not only by complaints/urging from friends (ahem Raffi, Sarmen) but by my emotional reaction to the passage of the Armenian Genocide resolution in the US Foreign Relations Committee. I know most of you readers are already familiar with what’s happening right now, but I wanted to share something that happened to me with regard to this bill. But first, a little background is required…
What I am currently working on in Armenia is finishing my masters in International Affairs. I’m doing it at the New School in New York City, but for my last semester I was able to conduct my studies in Armenia since I only need to complete two classes which are both outside-the-classroom. One is an internship (which I won’t be discussing here) and the other is an Independent Study project. I have been doing my project research at the Yerevan State University, at what is essentially their Oriental studies center. There are some really bright and informed people who are also studying there and have been helping me find sources for my project. The topic of the project is a sort of comparison of the situations in Kosovo and Karabakh, with smaller case studies on Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia. My purpose is to examine the tension between the right of self-determination for secessionist republics and the international norm of supporting territorial integrity for states. At present time, negotiations over Kosovo’s final status are being carried out, and it seems that Kosovo may be the first of the four aforementioned de facto republics to have its final status determined. However, with the US insisting that Kosovo will become independent (even if by unilateral declaration), and Russia simultaneously doing everything to prevent such a decision, who knows how this will turn out? I went to a lecture the other day at Common Ground here in Yerevan, where the speaker who discussed the possibility and implications of an independent Kurdistan, actually said that Kosovo will not be a precedent for Karabakh, but that Karabakh will set a precedent for Kosovo. Very interesting.
Anyway, as I conduct this project, I am still a student of the New School in New York, and as such I receive emails from my school’s listserv. In the wake of the Armenian Genocide resolution coming up for a vote, one of my classmates posted a link to an article about US resistance to the bill and urged students to contact their Congress members to pass the resolution. I was impressed. However, then another student replied to the email, saying that they are a citizen of Turkey and do not accept any responsibility for the Armenian Genocide. Essentially, in this email, the student admitted that Genocide took place but felt no sense of liability to help bring justice to the issue, and also said that US efforts to recognize the Armenian Genocide were not about justice for Armenians at all. This student also pointed out that American-Armenian efforts to legislate this point in history only increase tensions between Armenians and Turks and make life harder for Armenians in Turkey.
Sorry to vent here, but I am really in disbelief about how ignorant this position is. Let me get this straight… you know that your country’s former government is guilty of this crime against humanity, and throughout your life you have enjoyed the fruits of the lands that these Ottoman leaders took from others who had lived there in peace for centuries, but you and other current citizens have nothing to do with what happened in the past? Then you are indeed guilty of continuing the Turkish crime of Genocide. If even informed Turks cannot see the link, then how can the Turkish government ever move forwards towards a just resolution of this issue?
On a slightly different note, I cannot believe that this Armenian Genocide bill going to the House Foreign Relations Committee is being linked by US leaders to the further deterioration of the situation in Iraq. True, Turkey is crazy and is trying absolutely everything in its power to dissuade the passage of the bill, but Turkish-American relations have been strained since the start of the war. Furthermore, if Turkey wants to invade Iraq to combat the Kurdish forces, then they will do so despite their already unstable friendship with America. Let’s stop catering to Turkey’s blackmailing already. I’m kind of all over the place here but have become a little emotional about the Turkish and American response to this Bill…
I want to leave off with a quote from a subsequent classmate responding to the email correspondence, who quoted the late great Bob Marley:
“Don’t forget your history, know your destiny: in the abundance of water, the fool is thirsty”.
What I am currently working on in Armenia is finishing my masters in International Affairs. I’m doing it at the New School in New York City, but for my last semester I was able to conduct my studies in Armenia since I only need to complete two classes which are both outside-the-classroom. One is an internship (which I won’t be discussing here) and the other is an Independent Study project. I have been doing my project research at the Yerevan State University, at what is essentially their Oriental studies center. There are some really bright and informed people who are also studying there and have been helping me find sources for my project. The topic of the project is a sort of comparison of the situations in Kosovo and Karabakh, with smaller case studies on Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia. My purpose is to examine the tension between the right of self-determination for secessionist republics and the international norm of supporting territorial integrity for states. At present time, negotiations over Kosovo’s final status are being carried out, and it seems that Kosovo may be the first of the four aforementioned de facto republics to have its final status determined. However, with the US insisting that Kosovo will become independent (even if by unilateral declaration), and Russia simultaneously doing everything to prevent such a decision, who knows how this will turn out? I went to a lecture the other day at Common Ground here in Yerevan, where the speaker who discussed the possibility and implications of an independent Kurdistan, actually said that Kosovo will not be a precedent for Karabakh, but that Karabakh will set a precedent for Kosovo. Very interesting.
Anyway, as I conduct this project, I am still a student of the New School in New York, and as such I receive emails from my school’s listserv. In the wake of the Armenian Genocide resolution coming up for a vote, one of my classmates posted a link to an article about US resistance to the bill and urged students to contact their Congress members to pass the resolution. I was impressed. However, then another student replied to the email, saying that they are a citizen of Turkey and do not accept any responsibility for the Armenian Genocide. Essentially, in this email, the student admitted that Genocide took place but felt no sense of liability to help bring justice to the issue, and also said that US efforts to recognize the Armenian Genocide were not about justice for Armenians at all. This student also pointed out that American-Armenian efforts to legislate this point in history only increase tensions between Armenians and Turks and make life harder for Armenians in Turkey.
Sorry to vent here, but I am really in disbelief about how ignorant this position is. Let me get this straight… you know that your country’s former government is guilty of this crime against humanity, and throughout your life you have enjoyed the fruits of the lands that these Ottoman leaders took from others who had lived there in peace for centuries, but you and other current citizens have nothing to do with what happened in the past? Then you are indeed guilty of continuing the Turkish crime of Genocide. If even informed Turks cannot see the link, then how can the Turkish government ever move forwards towards a just resolution of this issue?
On a slightly different note, I cannot believe that this Armenian Genocide bill going to the House Foreign Relations Committee is being linked by US leaders to the further deterioration of the situation in Iraq. True, Turkey is crazy and is trying absolutely everything in its power to dissuade the passage of the bill, but Turkish-American relations have been strained since the start of the war. Furthermore, if Turkey wants to invade Iraq to combat the Kurdish forces, then they will do so despite their already unstable friendship with America. Let’s stop catering to Turkey’s blackmailing already. I’m kind of all over the place here but have become a little emotional about the Turkish and American response to this Bill…
I want to leave off with a quote from a subsequent classmate responding to the email correspondence, who quoted the late great Bob Marley:
“Don’t forget your history, know your destiny: in the abundance of water, the fool is thirsty”.
posted by Tamar at 5:25 PM
1 Comments:
It's truely mind boggling just how scared the U.S. is of Turkey and its reaction. You get that sense simply reading into the mentality of media reports as well as the reaction the U.S. administration.
It seems they are basically Turkey's bi..h.
Even when they wanted to go to war with Iraq, the U.S. snubbed it's nose at France and all of Europe for that matter. These are rich and influential states. But when it comes to Turkey they're all afraid of what it thinks and what it will do.
One headline on Yahoo read: "Turkey considers reprecussions against the U.S.". When you talk of reprecussions, it implies that you have an equal or superior relationship, and can actually implement reprecussions.
Wait a second, who is the superpower here? Which country is touted as an undisputed world hegemon?
I just don't get it. And it's really starting to reveal an achille's heal of the Americans to all the world.
What I do think is happening though basically speaking is that the U.S. democrats want to make life hell for the republicans, by throwing a wrench in their war effort. A lot of them want Turkey to get mad, and want the war in Iraq to fail. That way, Bush's popularity is crushed, then they waltz in to victory in the elections.
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