A faraway holocaust

October 11th, 2007 – The United States Senate has passed a bill recognizing the Armenian genocide of 1915-1917. The result was 27 supporting votes against 21 opposed; it barely was approved despite the appeals of secretary of state Condoleezza Rice (yes, I had to check the spelling) and President George W. Bush himself. The aforementioned politicians implored the senators to vote against the bill stating that: ‘Its passage would do great harm to our relations with a key ally in NATO and in the global war on terror’ (BBC News Service). They are of course referring to the aggressor in this alleged genocide: Turkey.

So if I understand correctly, the Head of State of the, supposedly, most democratic country on earth tried to interfere in the United States’ bicameral system. For those of you who slept through your political science classes (myself included, I had to read up on it later), the US bicameral system involves one gouverning body or ‘house’ whom proposes legislation, another house whom passes legislation and the presidency which has no part in either. Mr. Bush’s and Mrs. Rice’s involvement was actually circumventing their national constitution by their attempted influencing of the democratic process, and for purely political and economic reasons. Our globalized economy and geopolitical environment undoubtedly clashes with the basic principles of the democratic/capitalist system but the president’s lack of tact and subtlety is appalling. Even if Turkey has been a crucial ally in the twentieth century, and with reason, the recognition of any genocide must prevail over all practical reasons; we are not going to deny the Holocaust simply to keep Germany happy and to keep the steady course of Volkswagens and Heineken flowing.

Turkey was, and still is, crucial to any western alliance by its geographic location. By controlling the territory around both the Bosporus and Dardanelle straits, they effectively control all movement between the Mediterranean and Black seas; and thus on every naval enterprise made by our Russian friend/neighbour/nemesis. The cold war is over yet ‘keeping a close eye’ on our neighbours has not fallen out of fashion. Furthermore, this ‘war on terror’ that our British and American partners love painting the media with, has important military installations in Turkey; so it’s usefulness to the West is far from outlived.

I think it is important to establish the international reasons why the President wanted to halt the bill but he forgets that he is of the lowest importance in his country. He executes the orders of the Senate and House of Representatives and they, in turn, take their orders from the citizens (or at least this is how it should work). To his credit, Mr. Bush did correctly forebode the Turkish reaction; President Abdullah Gul responded to the action with these weighted and not at all overdramatic words of wisdom: ‘This unacceptable decision of the committee, like similar ones in the past, is not regarded by the Turkish people as valid or of any value’ (BBC News Service). This begs the question: how can a matter be unacceptable and of no value at the same time? As I mentioned earlier, this Armenian genocide is a very sensitive matter that Turkey rejects unilaterally, not surprising as they were the aggressors.

To provide some context about a little known country, Armenia is a small country of the ex U.S.S.R. that gained independence in the 1991 break-up. It is landlocked and is quite poor in natural resources. Its economy is heavily based in agriculture as well as primary industry and has been bullied by American, Russian and even Chinese powers who have been trying to establish their sphere of influence onto another peripheral region of the Middle East. During the First World War, Armenia was invaded by the Ottoman Empire, an Islamic establishment whom sided with Germany and subsequently lost their Empire along with the war. The invasion resulted in the deaths of approximately 1.5 million Armenians. Considering that today, their population is 3.2 million; the sheer percentage of their nationality that perished constitutes genocide, regardless of intent and organisation. The thing is, the Ottomans failed to take over the entire Caucasus region in the war and blamed the Russian-siding Armenians; the subsequent intent to punish adds the elusive element of motive to the genocide verdict reached that some (22) countries have assigned to Turkey.

All in all, whether or not anyone recognises the semantic assignation we have given this event, something very bad happened to these people and if we can ease their search for closure, neither President Bush nor President Gul can prevent our collective effort to do so. Finally, It means nothing but the ‘end is coming ’ Blog, representing exactly 1 person, officially recognizes the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1917.

(Pictured: A gravesite of Armenian genocide victims - A shifty looking Abdullah Gul, President of Turkey)

End.