Tag: denial of Armenian Genocide

Ankara remains isolated despite French no to genocide bill

By Carsten Hoffmann Feb 29, 2012, 16:53 GMT

Istanbul – The Turkish government has hailed the French Constitutional Council’s striking down of a draft law that would have criminalized the denial of an Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Turks.

However, the joy in Ankara may be short-lived as discussions are certain to continue, not least because Turkey’s strategy for dealing with the massacres of Armenians does not appear to be paying off, and is increasingly isolating the country.

Apart from France, there have also been disputes over the issue with the United States, Canada and Switzerland.

The US ambassador in Ankara, Francis Ricciardone, believes Turkey has to tackle the ghosts of its past.

‘We believe that historians have to address this issue openly and honestly in order to reach a genuine acknowledgement of what happened,’ he said.

Friends and critics alike have called on the Turkish government to show some movement on the issue before 2015, the centenary of the events, in order to prevent the possibility of a more serious conflict developing.

In the past, Turkey has resorted to diplomatic notes expressing strong protest, angry threats and the withdrawal of ambassadors in its battle against claims that genocide took place in the Ottoman Empire.

While Turkey does not deny the suffering of the Armenians during the First World War, it objects to what it considers to be a one-sided presentation of the deaths of the hundreds of thousands of Armenian that began in 1915 as a genocide.

Turkey’s NATO partners have long remained silent on the issue, even though many of them have detailed reports from their own diplomats at the time, who wrote about deportations and death marches.

However, Ankara has consistently argued that what it often refers to ‘the tragic events of 1915’ resulted from Turkey’s need to defend itself because the Armenians had allied themselves with the Russians and were planning a revolt.

‘Turkey does not deny the suffering of the Armenians, including the loss of many innocent lives, during the First World War. However, a greater number of Turks died or were killed in the years leading to and during the War,’ the Foreign Ministry wrote in a press release.

‘Parliaments and other political institutions should not legislate history when historians are debating the substance of the issue,’ it added.

Turkey has denied the substance of much of the genocide claims. In 2005 then Foreign Minister and current President Abdullah Gul said Turkey faced an extremely well organized campaign of genocide allegations.

‘This organized campaign is based on prejudices, slander, lies, exaggerations and fabrications concerning our nation and our country, which began to be disseminated nearly one century ago,’ he said.

At the time Henry Morgenthau, who was US ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in 1913-1916, wrote in his memoirs that he was ‘confident that the whole history of the human race contains no such horrible episode’ as the Armenian genocide.

Gul argues that Morgenthau was relying on information provided by Armenian extremists.

In 2008, Turkish intellectuals called in an open letter for forgiveness for the crimes perpetrated against the Armenian people but drew short of describing the events as ‘genocide’.

Renowned Turkish journalist Mehmet Ali Birand has warned his country against falling into what he describes as a ‘genocide trap’.

‘The current situation has only arisen because we always just said no,’ he wrote.

via Ankara remains isolated despite French no to genocide bill – Monsters and Critics.

March 1, 2012
‘French business interested in Azerbaijan and Turkey more than in Armenia’

News.Az interviews Ruslan Kostyuk, doctor of historical science, professor of the International Relations Faculty of the St.Petersburg State University.

Can you predict the decision of the Constitutional court regarding the law criminalizing the so-called ‘Armenian genocide’ recently passed in lower and upper chamber of the French parliament?

It is difficult to predict the decision of the Constitutional Court. The issue of this bill causes concern among socio-political forces in France less than political events. France is looking forward presidential elections soon, and, frankly, the issue of the Armenian “genocide” (hence the quotes below are ours – Ed.) Is not even among top seven issues, which are being actively discussed.

We know that Nicolas Sarkozy himself has initiated the adoption of the aforementioned bill. But in every French party, there are certain forces that favor the adoption of this law, and the forces that believe that the law should not have been adopted and disputes must be left to historians. Therefore, it is very difficult to predict the decision of the Constitutional Court. If the judgment is not in favor of the law, it will still be likely moral and political defeat of the current president of France. After all, everyone knows the anti-Turkish stance of Sarkozy primarily in Ankara’s membership in EU.

Is this law important for Sarkozy? It is primarily the intention to drag Armenian party to their side in anticipation of presidential elections or the reluctance to see Turkey inside the EU?

On the eve of the previous presidential election, he repeatedly said that Turkey’s accession to the EU is hardly possible. He said that for its geographical location Turkey is supposedly not a political Europe. So, by this bill Sarkozy complicates opportunities and prospects of the Turkish Republic in the EU. With regard to the fact that he may have done it before the presidential election, in order to win the Armenian Diaspora on its side, it is worth noting that the French of Armenian origin are really going to support Sarkozy, according to all sorts of polls. However, the French sociologists say that in this case, Sarkozy can count on the votes of 300,000-400,000 people. This is much less than the votes of all the Muslim diasporas in France put together. Sarkozy should better arrange the hunt to win them on his side before the election.

Today we see that the French-Turkish relations are going through not the best of their times. Ankara has already reacted and further plans to take adequate measures on the ‘French’ law. How do you think Azerbaijan should act, as the Turkish partner?

I would not make hasty conclusions, especially as this law does not apply directly to Azerbaijan. It is clear that there are special Turkish-Azerbaijani relations, it is clear that there is the Karabakh conflict, and the condition of the Azerbaijani-Armenian relations. However, I repeat, this law does not apply directly to Baku

I have to note that the French business is interested in Azerbaijan and Turkey to a much greater extent than in Armenia. We know perfectly well that the French car manufacturers control up to 25% of the Turkish car market. About a thousand of French companies have direct investments in Turkey. The French patronage took quite a strained position and its representatives tried to dissuade Sarkozy from doing so.

With regard to the issue of the Minsk Group and France, it is obvious that Paris has not been too neutral in Karabakh issue. There were certain actions in favor of Armenia. At the same time, France is one of the leading players in the EU. And if Baku puts the question of removing France from among the Minsk group co-chairs, won’t it harm relations between Azerbaijan and the EU?

Finally, France will soon have presidential elections and Sarkozy may probably be removed from power. And after this the foreign policy of France will likely be corrected by the new government.

Is the same law likely to be adopted in Russia too?

In my opinion, Russia and Turkey have far more complex and fast-evolving relationship, than it was before. In many ways, Turkey comes in the first place as an economic partner of Russia. For example, the sale of certain goods and tourism. Given the weight, which Turkey has, given the fact that the Russian-Turkish political, economic, scientific-technical relations have grown markedly in recent times, I do not think that at the moment the dominant forces of the State Duma will tolerate such a law.

Moreover, here is one more thing, albeit insignificant. It should be noted that representatives of the Yedinaya Rossiya party sit in the same group with representatives of the ruling Justice and Development Party of Turkey in PACE. This may not be the most obvious caveat, but still means something.

So I do not think that the adoption of this law is actual for Russia in the nearest perspective.

Hamid Hamidov

News.Az

via News.Az – ‘French business interested in Azerbaijan and Turkey more than in Armenia’.

February 8, 2012
Turkey may have banned dead French soldiers’ flight over Armenian genocide law

By RFI

Turkey may have banned the flight repatriating the bodies of four French soldiers killed in Afghanistan from crossing its air space in retaliation for the Armenian genocide bill recently passed by the French Senate.

Pro-Turkish demonstrators in Paris last month Reuters/Charles Platiau

Ankara has introduced the first sanctions against France in response to the both houses of the French parliament approving a law that declared it illegal to deny that an anti-Armenian genocide took place in Turkey during World War I.

Dossier: AfPak news and analysis

Prime Minister Recep Tayyep Erdogan has replaced his official car, a Renault, by a Ford as a first sanction on France, according to RFI Istanbul correspondent Jérôme Bastion.

More seriously, two French warships and a military plane have had to change their route after being denied access to Turkish waters or airspace, the French ambassador to Turkey has told RFI.

France will no longer ask for permission for military missions to cross over Turkey or through its waters until the spat about the law is resolved, he said.

However, a flight carrying a French minister was allowed to fly over Turkey, the embassy says.

“So it is highly likely that the flight that was redirected was the one that was bringing back the bodies of the soldiers killed in Afghanistan on 20 January,” RFI’s website in French says, adding that the minister’s flight was probably that of Defence Minister Gérard Longuet, who went to Kabul on 21 January.

Automatic authorisation for the French military to dock in or overfly Turkey was suspended when the National Assembly approved the Armenian genocide law.

A ban on ministers passing through has been threatened but is not due to take effect until the Constitutional Council rules on whether the law is valid.

via Turkey may have banned dead French soldiers’ flight over Armenian genocide law – France – Turkey – RFI.

February 5, 2012
Is Europe setting up clash between Muslims and the West?

Editor’s note: Mohammed Ayoob is University Distinguished Professor of International Relations at Michigan State University and adjunct scholar at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding

Turkish people demonstrate in France against a voting session for a bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian genocide

(CNN) — Europe and the Muslim world seem to be on a collision course that could have major political, economic and ideological ramifications. January 23, 2012, may well come to be remembered as the crucial date when Samuel Huntington’s “clash of civilizations” thesis, which many of us believed discredited beyond repair, was reaffirmed.

Political scientist Huntington wrote in 1993 that cultural divisions preclude a defining global civilization, and the West and the Muslim world would never share the same values.

Last month, Europe took two different actions that nonetheless sent the same message to the Muslim world: You are not our equals and are doomed to be judged by standards different from those by which we judge ourselves. Future historians might call January 23 the day when Europe irreversibly alienated not one, but both, pivotal powers — Iran and Turkey — that in all probability will dominate the political landscape of the Middle East for several decades.

One action was the European Union’s decision to ban oil purchases from Iran, including imports of crude oil, petroleum products and petrochemical products, to force Tehran to negotiate away its uranium enrichment program, which Tehran insists is for civilian use only. This is the latest in a series of increasingly stringent sanctions that Western powers have unilaterally imposed on Iran. These sanctions go well beyond those required by the U.N. Security Council.

Mohammed Ayoob

Mohammed Ayoob

The EU sanctions attempt to hit the Iranian economy where it hurts most: Europe imports about a fifth of Iranian oil. When combined with a ban on transactions with Iran’s Central Bank, this action is aimed at paralyzing the Iranian economy.

At the same time, the French Senate passed a law making it a crime to deny genocides that are officially recognized by France. The two genocides in this category are the Holocaust and the killing of 1.5 million Armenians in Anatolia during the last years of the Ottoman Empire. Because the denial of the Holocaust is already a crime under French law, the obvious objective of the bill is to criminalize the denial of the 1915 Armenian genocide.

Sanctions hurting Iran economy

France passes Armenian genocide bill

The issue of Armenian genocide touches a very raw nerve in Turkey, which denies the scale of the killings — Turkey maintains that roughly 500,000 Armenians were killed — as well as the claim that it was planned. According to Turkey, the killings happened in the midst of the disarray accompanying World War I and the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey says a nearly equivalent number of Turks and Kurds were also killed in inter-ethnic strife with the Armenians, who were allied with the Ottoman’s Russian adversaries.

It’s not the accuracy of the opposing claims that is at issue; it’s Muslim perceptions. Iran may well be trying to develop nuclear weapons, and what amounts to an Armenian genocide may well have taken place. What roils Muslim opinion worldwide is the perception that the West uses blatant double standards to pass judgment.

Harsh sanctions on Iran are seen as an attempt to prevent a Muslim country from developing deterrents to attacks from Israel and the United States, both nuclear powers hostile to the Islamic Republic. Most Western discussions of the Iranian bomb do not make even passing reference to the well-documented Israeli nuclear capability, even as Israel threatens to militarily strike Iran’s nuclear facilities. This omission is seen as hypocritical, dishonest and self-serving.

For many in the Muslim world, double standards explain why France singled out Turkey, and didn’t criminalize the denial of other nations’ crimes against humanity. Although denying Germany’s crimes is a crime, the Holocaust is universally accepted as genocide, while Turkey’s is not.

Many ask why disputing European massacres of non-European people is not criminalized — such as the French actions in Algeria, as Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has said. These would include the near-total extermination of native populations by European settlers in Australia, New Zealand, and North America.

They would include the killings of millions of people by the Belgian administration of the Congo Free State, whose population was halved during the early decades of Belgian rule. Most pertinent of all, Muslims ask, why not criminalize the denial of the genocidal Spanish Inquisition that led to the extermination, expulsion or conversion of the entire Muslim and Jewish populations of the Iberian peninsula?

Many Muslims perceive these moves as the West targeting Iran and Turkey in an attempt to prevent important Muslim countries from achieving the military capacity — Iran — and the political stature — Turkey — they deserve. Many see behind these moves the not-so-hidden hand of an ideology based on Huntington’s theory of the clash of civilizations. Although these perceptions may not fully conform with reality, it is well established that perceptions count much more than reality in the conduct of international relations.

via Is Europe setting up clash between Muslims and the West? – CNN.com.

February 5, 2012
Analysts say Turkey unwise on Armenia law reaction

Turkey’s attempts to intimidate France over the question of the Armenian genocide is bound to backfire, analysts said as the 100th anniversary of the bloodshed approaches. Duration: 02:00

January 29, 2012
Clinton sidesteps dispute between Turkey and France over genocide legislation

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday sidestepped a delicate dispute between two allies over the World War I-era killing of Armenians in Turkey.

Clinton was asked why the United States has not matched a move by French lawmakers to criminalize denial that the killings were genocide. The French legislation has enraged Turkey, which has threatened sanctions if French President Nicolas Sarkozy signs the bill.

The U.S. administration has avoided calling the killings genocide despite support for recognition by both Clinton and President Barack Obama when they were senators.

Clinton said the administration was wary of compromising free speech. She said the issue was best left for scholars.

“To try to use government power to resolve historical issues, I think, opens a door that is a very dangerous one to go through,” Clinton said at an event with U.S. State Department employees.

via Clinton sidesteps dispute between Turkey and France over genocide legislation – The Washington Post.

January 27, 2012