JEWS CHECK ARMENIAN GENOCIDE STANCE
By Allison Hoffman
JPost.com
Feb 3, 2009 4:15
An official with a leading American Jewish organization told the
The Jerusalem Post on Monday that a deterioration in Israel-Turkey
relations might prompt his group and others to reconsider Armenian
efforts to win recognition of the century-old Turkish massacres
as genocide.
In this photo provided by the Photlure photo agency in Armenia, a
boy pauses in front of a wall-sized poster depicting the faces of 90
survivors of the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire,
in Yerevan, Armenia.
Slideshow: Pictures of the week A bill that would ensure such
recognition by the US, which was backed by Rep. Adam Schiff – a Jewish
Democrat who represents a heavily Armenian area of Los Angeles – failed
to make it to a Congressional vote in 2007. However, it sparked a row
in the American Jewish community between those who sided with Turkey
in an effort to protect Israel’s political interests, and those who
argued that Jews were particularly responsible for helping other
groups block the public denial of genocide.
"No Jew or Israeli in his right mind will insult Turkey," the official
told the Post. "But next time… they might not come to Turkey’s aid
or equivocate quite so much on the issue."
The Bush administration opposed the bill out of concern for what it
would do to US-Turkey relations.
The current blowup between Israel and Turkey comes amid expectations
that the Obama administration will name academic and writer Samantha
Power, an expert on genocide, to a key National Security Council
post dealing with multilateral institutions. Power has been outspoken
in labeling the Turkish massacre of Armenians genocide, albeit from
outside the government.
One Washington-based Jewish community leader said Jewish organizations
were unlikely to reorient their views and begin backing legislation
to recognize the Armenian genocide, arguing that this would only make
a delicate situation far worse.
"If organizations aren’t backing Armenian genocide resolutions
because of the Turkish-Israeli relationship and their concern about
the Turkish Jewish community, I don’t think they would change now,"
he said. "Those same concerns remain, and those same pressures remain."
Anti-Defamation League head Abraham Foxman – whose opposition to the
Armenian genocide legislation in 2007 provoked widespread criticism –
told the Post that as long as Israel maintained its diplomatic ties
with Turkey, he saw no immediate reason to change his position on
any future genocide resolutions.
"This is not a punishment or a reward issue – we don’t change our
position on what’s right or wrong based on what people say," Foxman
said. "The interests between Israel and Turkey continue."
Foxman also noted that he knew of Jewish friends who had cancelled
trips to Turkey over Erdogan’s comments, but described the Erdogan
flap as a disagreement between "friends."
"There have been some very inappropriate harsh statements by the
leadership, especially by the prime minister, which we think are
inappropriate," he said, "but they have not changed the basic
relationship [with Israel]."
Hilary Leila Krieger and Haviv Gur Rettig contributed to this report.