FINAL PUSH FOR THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION SHOWDOWN
Hurriyet
March 1 2010
Turkey
A group of Turkish parliamentarians in Washington this week to do a
final push before the Armenian Genocide Resolution which will be put
on a vote this Thursday at the House Foreign Relations Committee.
Turkey’s new ambassador to the US, Mr. Namik Tan exchanged the
credentials with President Obama last Wednesday and has been busy
with holding meetings since then to make some progress over the issue,
an issue that is to many Washington insiders is already a lost cause.
Ambassador Namik Tan gave his first interview to "Studyo Washington",
a daily news program, last Friday, and responded to questions over the
resolution first time publicly. He acknowledged that he already met
with the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Howard Berman
a day before and also met with some officials of the US administration.
Tan said: "Turkey wants to bring peace and stability to the Caucusus
region, and I think America has the same goal. The US Congress
is not a place to make a decision over this issue, neither the
legislative branches of other countries. We have been talking to US
administration as well and telling them what the Turkish public think
about the matter."
When asked about the on-going silence of the US administration, Tan
said: "as many know, the US administration is the biggest lobbying
power in the town. I think that they can step in the right direction
while looking at the whole picture of the relationships between
Turkey and America. The public in Turkey is closely following the
developments over the issue. We worry that the Turkish public would
see what is happening at this time [the withdrawn attitude of the US
administration]. Americans should know that this behavior sends the
wrong signals and the Turkish public would display a strong reaction.
We do not want this because this would effect very negatively our
relationships."
Although the Ambassador said that "we do not even want to think about
the possibility of a successful passage at the Committee level,"
and there are understandable and obvious reasons for the Turkish
administration to take this stand for the Committee level voting,
one needs to know that a miracle is needed to stop the resolution at
this point
There are two different interpretations in Washington over the
withdrawn posture of the Obama White House at this time. One is
to say that there is a motionless because the US administration is
intentionally wants the resolution pass this year to sharpen the sword
of Democles to utilize more pressure over the Turkish administration
for other foreign affairs matters that are coming up into the play.
The upcoming sanctions debate over Iran is one of those matters
that Turkey’s attitude will be closely watched at the UN Security
Council by Washington. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said
in a hearing at the US Congress last week that she expects the UN
Security Council to impose new sanctions against Iran in the "next
30 to 60 days." The timing just coincides before the April 24, when
the US President releases the traditional Presidential Remembrance
Day statement and chooses the adjectives in his statement over what
happened during World War I.
Another interpretation for the numbness of the White House told by a
Washington source last week. According to this source, who has been
watching closely and writing about the US administrations for the
last quarter of a century, the Obama White House is the messiest
and combined by the most amateurish team of policy makers he has
ever witnessed.
The members of this disconnected White House team also have been
fighting with each other for a while. Obama’s chief of staff Rahm
Emanuel, shot back to his critics who have been demanding for his
resignation recently. Emanuel said through Dana Milibank’s column in
Washington Post last week that the two of the most visible senior
White House teammates, Valerie Jarrett and Robert Gibbs, should be
fired because of the poor job performance they have shown so far.
While defending his record, Emanuel also blamed his boss, Obama,
for not taking his advice for the health care reform and many other
policy issues, which are either stalled or failed for the time being.
In the foreign affairs front, policy differences within the U.S.
foreign policy apparatus also hindered the implementation of an
effective and coherent U.S. policy toward the Iranian nuclear program.
On the one hand, Hillary Clinton slams the Iranian regime every
other day with the harshest words in the international diplomatic
arena, on the other Obama and his White House team still argue that
the diplomatic channels to Iran are open. While State Department
spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters last Monday that Washington
was "looking at the full range of possibilities" regarding Iranian
problem, implying that the military options are still on the table,
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen said on the
same day in a Pentagon briefing that he supports using diplomatic and
economic pressure against Iran, noting "no strike, however effective,
will be in and of itself decisive," displaying his unwillngness to
talk about a military option as a head of the US Army.
The Washington Post’s veteran columnist David Ignatius gave a stark
statement when he joined the Chris Matthew Show a week ago and said
that manufacturing of the bunker-buster bombs have been accelerated
recently. These bombs penetrate deep into the earth or girth through
a dozen feet of reinforced concrete before exploding. Ignatius was
clear while pointing out the direct link between this acceleration
of manufacturing with the Iranian nuclear facilities, which are
reportedly under the ground.
One of the members of the Congress, who has close ties to Israel,
stated in an off-the-record talk just last week that he and his
friends gave up on working on a gasoline sanctions against Iran.
Instead, he acknowledged that as a Congress, they will work on to
transfer those bunker busters to Israel as soon as possible. I believe,
this statement is one of a kind, showing how the Obama administration
is regarded, or not trusted over the Iran issue, by the lawmakers
who have proximity to Israel one way or another, .
According to an AP story, Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, who introduced
the ‘ ‘Genocide’ resolution for consideration, said he sees more
favorable conditions than in 2007. "Last time we had President Bush
calling lawmakers at their homes to oppose the resolution," he said.
It seems that Obama needs to make many phone calls to many members
for many issues to get them done. Though, so far Obama we know,
lacks the leadership skills sorely, has a hard time prioritizing the
foreign policy agenda and getting anything done domestically.
I should make myself clear. I am with the second school of thoughts,
who believes that with an administration that appears this messy and
rambling, anything can happen in Washington, including passing the
resolution in the Committee this week.