ISTANBUL: Armenians Should See The Hypocrisy Over ‘meds Yeghern’

ARMENIANS SHOULD SEE THE HYPOCRISY OVER ‘MEDS YEGHERN’
by Murat Yetkin

Hurriyet
April 25 2012
Turkey

It was actually predictable that after the French supreme court’s
ruling to annul the French government’s decision to criminalize saying
the 1915 massacres in which hundreds of Armenians were killed in the
declining Ottoman Empire was not genocide, this year’s anniversary
would somehow have a lower profile.

Yesterday, April 24 is the day that Talat Pasha, the interior minister
of the Ottoman Turkish government, ordered local administrators to
forcibly deport all of the Armenian population to southern parts of
what was then the country (now Syria). The campaign was implemented
cruelly, especially on the eastern front where some Armenian armed
groups were collaborating with the invading Czarist Russian armies
killing and plundering the Muslim population under the circumstances
of World War I. The date has been taken as the start of the “Armenian
genocide” widely and roughly following the Nuremberg trials of the
Nazis because of the genocide (or Holocaust) of the Jewish population
during World War II.

The Armenian diaspora wants to get this date recognized as ‘Armenian
Genocide Day’ by other countries to put pressure on the Turkish
Republic as the inheritor of the Turkish Empire. The purpose is to
get a formal apology from Ankara and compensation as well.

Many governments have already adopted the “genocide” rhetoric, despite
protestations from Turkey. But what matters for the Armenians is
to get it recognized by the U.S. Not only because the U.S. is the
dominant political power in the world, but because then it would
be possible for the inheritors to make claims for their lands and
properties left in Turkey through insurance companies. The U.S.

Supreme Court turned down a court case a few years ago saying that
they do not have the authority to rule against state policies.

For decades up until this year, it was like a congressional sport in
Washington, D.C. to submit a bill for the “Armenian genocide,” causing
fierce debate which could only be stopped by the U.S. president. But
this year, there wasn’t even a bill organized by Armenian lobbying
groups. That is most probably because of the French effect.

It is true that Nicholas Sarkozy has decided to be the first French
President to join the commemorations in Paris. But even the French
press is criticizing both him and his rival Francois Hollande —
who does the same — for competing for Armenian votes in the second
round of the presidential election on May 6.

And American President Barack Obama’s ‘Meds yeghern’ statement
yesterday made neither Armenians nor Turks happy; the term is
synonymous with genocide in Armenian, but does not have any meaning
in international law.

Now both Armenians and Turks are looking to 2015 as the 100th year of
“meds yeghern.” One is trying to make it a big event to knee Turks down
and Turks are trying to avoid it as one of the important strategic
partners of the U.S. in the Eurasian theater, probably by putting
more into that partnership basket.

Perhaps it is time to leave the maximalist approach aside for the
Armenian diaspora to hear the Turkish state saying sorry on behalf
of their predecessors; the political climate is ready for that.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress