Opinion: G-word heading to House floor
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Hewing closer to the advices of the L.A. Times’ editorial board than the Washington Post’s, the House Foreign Affairs Committee flouted warnings from President Bush, eight former secretaries of state, the Turkish government, and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak by voting 27-21 in favor of a non-binding resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide as ‘the Armenian genocide.’
Here’s what Bush said on the White House lawn this morning:
On another issue before Congress, I urge members to oppose the Armenian genocide resolution now being considered by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. We all deeply regret the tragic suffering of the Armenian people that began in 1915. 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.
Here’s what he said about the same issue on Feb. 19, 2000:
The Armenians were subjected to a genocidal campaign that defies comprehension and commands all decent people to remember and acknowledge the facts and lessons of an awful crime in a century of bloody crimes against humanity. If elected President, I would ensure that our nation properly recognizes the tragic suffering of the Armenian people.
In response to the Foreign Affairs Committee listening to Bush the candidate instead of Bush the president, Turkey is now making official threats:
ISTANBUL, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan may ask parliament on Thursday to authorise a military incursion into northern Iraq to fight Kurdish rebels using the region as a base. [...] ‘A request for approval for a cross-border operation could be sent to parliament tomorrow,’ Erdogan said on Wednesday. ‘After the holiday (this weekend) we plan to gain authorisation for one year.’ [...]
Plus, this:
‘If a country passes a bill that harms Turkey, then we should make a move that will counter it,’ said Onur Oymen, deputy chairman of the main opposition party in Turkey. ‘More than 70 percent of logistical support to U.S. operations in Iraq is done through Turkey.’
And this, for the Jews:
The widespread perception in Turkey is that US Jewish organizations have linked up with Armenian groups to ‘defame’ and ‘condemn’ Turkey, visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan told The Jerusalem Post Monday. He warned that if a measure characterizing the killing of Armenians during World War I as an act of genocide passed the US Congress in the coming days, it would not only harm Turkey’s ties with the US, but also Ankara’s ties with Jerusalem. ‘All of a sudden the perception in Turkey right now is that the Jewish people, or the Jewish organizations let’s say, and the Armenian Diaspora, the Armenian lobbies, are now hand-in-hand trying to defame Turkey, and trying to condemn Turkey and the Turkish people,’ Babacan said. ‘This is the unfortunate perception right now in Turkey. So if something goes wrong in Washington, DC, it inevitably will have some influence on relations between Turkey and the US, plus the relations between Turkey and Israel as well.’
The State Department’s official apologia includes this thick slice of technically accurate disingenuousness:
We support a full and fair accounting of the atrocities that befell as many as 1.5 million Armenians during World War I, which H.Res. 106 does not do.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wasted little time hi-fiving the House:
Today, President Bush wrongly urged Congress to reject a resolution to recognize the atrocities committed against the Armenian people from 1915-1923 as nothing less than genocide. I commend the House Foreign Affairs Committee for rejecting the President’s position and casting a vote of conscience. I urge all Angelenos to call on their Congressional leaders to formally acknowledge the indisputable historical fact of the Armenian Genocide. We must never – for any reason – seek to clothe the horror of ethnic cleansing in bureaucratic euphemisms.
Some link-rich roundups can be found at The New Republic and Slate. And lastly, here’s a video of flip-flopping Congresswoman Jane Harman being confronted by angry Armenian-Americans at a political rally in Lakewood.