U.S. PUBLISHER: OBAMA’S ADMINISTRATION PRESSURES ITS COMMISSION TO COVER UP TURKEY
PanARMENIAN.Net
March 28, 2012 – 12:27 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net – Harut Sassounian, the Publisher of U.S.-based
California Courier, issued an article on U.S. State Department’s
disgraceful censorship of a report blacklisting Turkey.
“Each passing day brings new revelations of the Obama administration’s
shameful schemes to cover up Turkish misconduct,” Sassounian writes
in his article.
“The latest scandal involves the State Department’s covert attempt to
alter the contents of a report by the U.S. Commission on International
Religious Freedom (USCIRF), condemning the Turkish government’s
violations of the religious rights of Christian minorities. USCIRF
is an independent bipartisan federal agency established by the U.S.
Congress to make “recommendations unburdened by foreign policy
considerations other than the defense of religious freedom,” according
to a Commission member.
The Commission issued a lengthy report on March 20, outlining in
great detail “the Turkish government’s systematic and egregious
limitations on the freedom of religion or belief that affect all
religious communities in Turkey, and particularly threaten the
country’s non-Muslim religious minorities.”
The report recommended that the U.S. government designate Turkey as
one of the world’s 16 worst violators of religious freedom, along
with Burma, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, North Korea,
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan,
and Vietnam.
The Commission’s recommendation sharply downgraded Turkey’s status
from a previous “watch” list country to the black list of 16 “Countries
of Particular Concern” (CPC).
As expected, Turkish officials resorted to their usual disparaging
tactics, rejecting the Commission’s findings. Far more troubling were
the insidious actions of turkophiles in the State Department. Nina
Shea, one of the nine USCIRF commissioners, wrote an alarming article
revealing how the Obama administration quietly pressured the commission
to soften its condemnation of Turkey.
Ms. Shea disclosed to the National Review, a major national
publication, that Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights Michael
Posner had forced one of the commissioners to change his position
in Turkey’s favor, after being tipped off by another commissioner,
an Obama appointee, that the Commission had voted 5-4 to black list
Turkey in its annual report. By then, the report had been issued and
it was too late to alter the Commission’s recommendation, designating
Turkey as a major violator of religious freedom. As required, the
report was submitted to Pres. Obama, Secretary of State Clinton,
and Congressional leaders.
It was later revealed that Don Argue, President of Northwest University
in Kirkland, Washington, was the Commissioner who was pressured into
changing his mind on Turkey. Ironically, two days after this report
was issued, the terms of service of Shea, Argue and three other
commissioners ended.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry, reacting sharply to the Commission’s
critical designation of Turkey, declared the report to be “null
and void.” Turkey’s Ambassador to Washington, Namik Tan, described
the report as “politically motivated.” The Commission’s chairman,
Leonard Leo, shrugged off the Turkish protestations. “I don’t really
care what the [Turkish] Foreign Minister thinks, because the report
is not for him, it’s for the State Department,” Leo told the Turkish
Zaman newspaper.
Regrettably, a State Dept. spokesperson persisted in covering up
Turkey’s abusive record when he told EurasiaNet.org: “the Department
does not support Turkey’s CPC designation, although it believes the
country needs to do more to expand religious freedom.”
The Commission’s report included a long list of grave charges,
accusing the Turkish government of denying “full legal status to
religious groups, [and] violating the religious freedom rights of all
religious communities; denying “non-Muslim communities the rights to
train clergy, offer religious education, and own and maintain places of
worship; restricting the religious freedom of “the Greek, Armenian, and
Syriac Orthodox Churches, the Roman Catholic and protestant Churches,
and the Jewish community as well as for the majority Sunni Muslim
community and the country’s largest minority, the Alevis.”
The report described in great detail the restrictions imposed on the
Armenian community, including the Turkish government’s prohibition of
training new clergy, and its interference “in the selection process
of the Armenian Patriarchate’s religious leadership.”
The Commission recommended that the U.S. government urge Turkey to
“abolish Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code which restricts
the freedom of thought and expression and negatively affects the
freedom of religion or belief.” The report also acknowledged that
“even starting a discussion on genocide of Christians that occurred
100 years ago is a criminal offense in Turkey.”
Ironically, after meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan in
South Korea on March 26, Pres. Obama told the media: “I congratulated
the Prime Minister on the efforts that he has made within Turkey to
protect religious minorities!” It is shameful that unscrupulous U.S.
officials are treating a federal agency’s painstaking research and
solid recommendations with such contempt!” the publicist writes.
From: A. Papazian