Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Dec. 17 to urge officials to block the House of Representatives vote on the Armenian Genocide Resolution, saying doing otherwise would jeopardize U.S.-Turkish ties. According to Turkish sources, Clinton said her administration had not changed its position on the matter and that “she would exert all possible effort.”
Davutoglu told journalists, “I asked for an effective interference at Congress because this issue may carry the possibility of influencing the future and nature of Turkish-U.S. relations. Everybody should act with responsibility on this issue. Bringing historical issues to the agenda over and over, and swinging those issues over the head of Turkish-U.S. relations like the sword of Damocles, is not appropriate.”
Similarly, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to President Barack Obama asking him to prevent the vote by the House.
On Dec. 17, State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said the Obama Administration strongly opposes the resolution. “We are aware of a potential House Resolution 252, and we strongly oppose that resolution. We continue to believe that the best way for Turkey and Armenia to address their shared past is through their efforts to normalize relations.”
Both the Turkish Embassy and Turkish diaspora groups have launched a campaign to block the passage of the resolution by contacting senior U.S. officials and Congressmen.
Turkey has long threatened that its ties with the U.S. would suffer if a resolution were passed. In March, Turkey recalled its ambassador after the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted in favor of it. Turkey has continued to deny that its policies of deportation and mass murder of the Armenians amounted to genocide.
Nanore Barsoumian
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Let’s stop and think about this for a second. Turkey has reduced the Armenian Genocide to a “historical issue”, almost equating it with a “fairy tale”. If this is just a harmless and meaningless “historical” issue, how is it that Turkey fears it and treats it as if it was the coming “Apocalypse”! What does the recognition of a “historical” issue have to do with Turkey’s future relationship with the US?
This is hilariously, outrageously, ridiculous behaviour that SHOUTS out the guilt of Turkey! This is the absolute book case behavior of a criminal! The same type of threats were made to France, but were never acted on when France officially recognized the Genocide.
The Genocide is not a “story”. It is an international crime.
Can we dare call the Holocaust just “history”? Maybe Germany should reverse its apology and ask for a refund of all the reparations it has made to the jews, since the Holocaust belongs to history!
Shame on the BIG United States of America for groveling to the same Turkey that it repudiated when the Genocide was happening. The US congress apprently will even consider selling its mom to Turkey when money and power is being dangled in front of its nose!
This is the fall of our modern day Roman Empire! Welcome to the Unites States of Turkey and Israel! The US of the American founding fathers is HISTORY! Turkey did not let the Americans use its southern border to invade Iraq, opposed the sanctions on Iran, it has the worse human rights record, its people hate Israel, but amazingly it has the power to intimidate and threaten the American President and Secretary of State and dictate what the US Congress should or should not pass!
Very well said Katia…you are very to the point. Thanks
“If this is just a harmless and meaningless “historical” issue, how is it that Turkey fears it and treats it as if it was the coming “Apocalypse”! What does the recognition of a “historical” issue have to do with Turkey’s future relationship with the US?”
I could not agree more. The hysterical reaction of some of the Turkish officals is a sad spectecle. I fully support the passage of this resolution. Let Turks and Armenians see that world will not come to an end and facts will remain as facts and myths will be just that. I am ashamed of this annual charade, the drama, threats and warnings. It does incredible damage to the relations and distracts from real issues and problems.
I must say Murat that it sounds like for once we agree. The Armenians don’t want the US to have bad relations with Turkey, not at all. As a matter of fact this has nothing to do with the US-Turkish relationship. Turkey is the only one blowing up this matter and linking its strategic relations to it! This is about giving the memory of the Genocide victims dignity and closure. Turkey has the sole power to end all this right now, by offering a complete and final apology and allowing the memory of the victims a minimum of dignity, instead of keep on insisting that 1.5 million men, women and children did not even exist! How could they have not existed when we are their orphans’ living breathing decendants? And that would be the best cost effective way out of this situation. Turkey spends exorbitant amounts of money every year, paying off lobbyists, special interests and congressmen to kill the Armenian Genocide resolution. It would have been better off paying for reparations instead! All this is getting out of hand because Turkey instead of righting its predecessor’s wrong, has become a partner in the crime by hiding the truth, and squandering its opportunity to have a great relationship with its neighbors, and to become a modern democratic power by doing the decent thing. Us Armenians are reasonable people. If Turkey acknowledges what the Ottoman empire did and shows willingness to make reparations for all the Armenian assets and lands it inherited, we will work with it to find the best solutions. Even now, Armenians invest, trade and vacation in Turkey all the time. It is painful to return things that don’t belong to you, but with reasonable, respectful attitudes everything can be solved. Once Turkey admits to the Genocide, and condemns what its predecessor has done, the sky will be the limit for its political and economic clout in the area. However not paying for deporting and killing innocent people, confiscating their monies, assets, properties and lands, investing these assets and profitting from them, and keeping them away from their rightful owners is criminal, illegal and has to be legally apprehended and corrected. That would be the correct thing to do. Turkey is lying and fooling itself if it thinks that there are other more effective and respectful solutions.
Dear Katia,
You are typical honest Armenian.
You are spending so much time to write
Burning your precious cells
In every beating organ you have.
Every one knows them
Who are they
And who are We.
You can’t teach those
In and In their genes
Unseeded any humanity.
Sylva
Apres Katia jan… Well said.. you hit the bulls eye…
Murat… hmmm.. i wonder if this is the same Murat .. the second hand to Robert the other Turk… Not sure.. very contrasting comments from the past and now if it is the same Murat… hmmm..i don’t know.. …
Davo and Erdo are cowards … and their entire shun government.. all that money that they waste on silencing those who speak out could have been spent on repaying my people back… they have no brain cells to think logical.. no shame, no soul.. and these type of people go only to one place where there s no return. Devil’s hole of Fire… and trust me, every one of them will be going there… i have no doubt…
Gayane
The one country that has showed the most guts in dealing with Turkey lately is ISRAEL.
Go ahead and laugh, but it’s true. Israel has yet to apologize to Turkey over the flotilla attack, though it may do so eventually.
Also, who has hit back at Turks? You know: Israel when it went on board the flotilla ship the Mavi and gave its answer to the Turks in the only language it understands. You see what I mean. All other countries are wimps when it comes to Turkey. All other countries bow down to Turkey.
Deeb – You may go on daydreaming, but, in fact, Turkey is a very vulnerable country, because throughout centuries Turks have made too many enemies inside and out by suppressing ancient peoples inhabiting Asia Minor long before the arrival of scorching and looting Seljuks and then repressive and murderous Ottomans. One day you’d have to repay for the mistreatment and race annihilation of those peoples. One day…
shame on you guys who is praising israel!! how do you forget about palestinian armenians? you people dont care about us!
A Turkey is led by decadent leaderships… their decadence emanates from their own hordes who fled the Asian mountains, sought an ancient and civilized nation, and stole that nation by eliminating their people… they chose to ‘steal’ the lands of the Christian Armenians. Turks gathered the Armenian men into the Turk army and slaughtered them; the women violated/raped kidnapped and worse, children slaughtered and kidnapped to become as the muslim turk.. But yet, there were the Survivors!! Today, nearly 100 years later… our Armenians in nations the world over, where their Survivors sought safe havens – today PERSISTENTLY join together, to bring the Turks, from the Ottomans to their current leaders… all whose mentality opposes what the civilized nations and states of the world recognize… Turkish Genocide of the Christian Armenian nation who recognized and adopted Christianity in the year 301AD (and too, Romans in 307AD).
Turkish Genocide of the Armenians is recognized by the Vatican, the International Genocide organization, 42 states of the 50 states of the USA, Religions the world over, (not muslim), nations and states worldwide who are all civilized entities… yet the Turk lies to the world and lies to themselves… paying USA ex-Congressmen who are earning their monies, lying, prostrating themselves, for Genocides that were and are in the past and into today… thIS evil cycle of the Genocides continues – unending as the perpetrator Turkey ‘gets away’ with all the rapes, murders, kidnappings and worse! Genocides perpetrated by Turks since the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, still! Today in Darfur by the Sudanese (muslims who are allied with Turks)… Who next?? For the criminals in civlized nations are sought and made to face justice… When is the Turk to face their guilt for their crimes against the Greeks, Assyrians, Syrians and the Armenians… Until Turk is brought to face all their crimes GENOCIDES CONTINUE!!
Too, history says such as the great Roman empire dissolved… and the history books tell us why. Turks donot have any history… (such a history… of course)!! Too, is the great republic of the United States of America facing too, morally, their demise via the actions of the muslim Turks… the USA morality lacking when the USA deems the Turk worthy of their ‘alliances’ – a Turkey whose history does not exist… for their history to all humanity reeks of the most vile and inhumane acts of humans to humans… from all their past and, today, ongoing/enending. Too, USA State Departments’ USA Ambassador Henry Morgenthau tells of his years with the Turks and their ‘elimination’ of the Armenians in his memoirs: Turks asked that Morgenthau connect with the USA insurance companies to forward to Turkey’s government any monies of all Armenian insurance policies since were not to be paid to relatives… relatives,’eliminated’… hence monies be owed to a Turkey as all rights to these insurance policies. Turkish Ottoman mentaliry… then, and today – still. Manooshag
Katia, as usual, your words express so well that which we all feel. Abrees. As for your first paragraph, questioning why a Turkey is as a Turkey… Obviously, because the leaderships of a Turkey of today are the same mentality mode of the Ottomans… historically!
Turkey leaderships cannot and will not be able to rise from the ashes of their own Ottoman unwritten histories… as this is what Turks pursue still in their Ottoman mentality. Obvioulsy Turks today continue to ‘bully’ nations… But yet, one day, the world will says ENOUGH of muslim Ottoman actions!! Hopefully soon, else the crimes of Genocides by criminals against innocents will continue – ongoing/unending the world over. For a Turkey, until today, has not been tried for it crimes against ALL humanity. Manooshag