On The Problem From Hell

Yesterday the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide at the hands of the Turks circa WWI. They've passed it in the past, but this time it may actually come up for a vote on the House floor. Normally I think these sense of the Congress resolutions are silly, but this is a powerful statement of solidarity with the Armenians, and could really impact future foreign policy, suggesting that the victims of genocide will no longer be consigned to the dustbin of history. On the other hand, Turkey is a NATO ally and helping connect supply lines in Iraq, and angering them may severely affect troops in the field.

In a rare and uncharacteristically strong condemnation, President Abdullah Gul criticized the vote by the House Foreign Relations Committee and warned that the decision could work against the United States.

“Unfortunately, some politicians in the United States have once more dismissed calls for common sense, and made an attempt to sacrifice big issues for minor domestic political games,” Mr. Gul said in a statement to the semi-official Anatolian News Agency. “This is not a type of attitude that works to the benefit of, and suits, representatives of a great power like the Unites States of America. This unacceptable decision of the committee, like similar ones in the past, has no validity and is not worthy of the respect of the Turkish people.”

The House decision prompted reaction on the streets of Turkey’s capital, Ankara, where the youth branch of the extreme leftist Workers’ Party laid a black wreath at the entrance to the United States Embassy and spray-painted the Turkish flag onto an Embassy wall. The group held Turkish flags, posters of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, and banners reading, “Armenian genocide is an imperialistic lie,” the Anatolian agency reported. The protesters called for the closing of the Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey, which American troops use to supply the military in central Iraq. “The U.S. once more showed that it is not our strategic ally but an enemy,” the Workers’ Party branch said in a statement.

There are no lies being told here; what happened to the Armenians was unquestionably a genocide. Even those who voted against the resolution would agree with that. It is a very hard situation, however, to balance this principled call with endangering American lives. Turkey could raise a lot of havoc in Iraq, and they're already inclined to do so through cross-border raids into Kurdistan.

The tinfoil hatted part of me wonders if this is a deliberate provocation to force the US out of an even more volatile Iraq. I really don't think so, but it lingers in the back of my mind. I would, however, say that there's no conspiracy about allowing the Armenian people their just recognition.