LIAR LIAR
Gibrahayer
How to have one’s cake and eat it too: A Barack Obama homemade
American recipe
Diran Kassabian* in Limassol for Gibrahayer e-magazine – I suppose
for most people it didn’t come as much of a surprise that the American
President’s statement on Armenian Remembrance Day failed to address by
name the very event that it was meant to commemorate. To be honest,
all the heartfelt solidarity with the survivors, the solemn feeling
of respect for those that were killed, and the interest to have
the facts acknowledged expressed in the statement were completely
unnecessary. We, the millions of Armenians in Armenia and around
the world, have heard all these things consistently stated many
times over. Indeed, the entire content of the statement could easily
have been omitted and instead replaced by a single definitive word:
Genocide.
The rest would have been self-explanatory. But this is not what
happened.
Instead, the American President, echoing his statements earlier this
month during his visit to Turkey, proceeds in explaining to us the
need for dialogue and reconciliation, commending on the steps taken
for the normalisation of the bilateral ties between Armenia and Turkey
that followed the Swiss mediated declaration.
Now one of the things that the Swiss are famous for is their
multipurpose army knives, complete with sets of screwdrivers, clippers,
blades, wire strippers, bottle and can openers, re amers and what
not. And it appears that this declaration does not fall short of the
above design either. There are still no details or actually anything
of substance whatsoever on the proposed ‘road-map’, hence we will all
have to wait until the politicians make public their intentions to
proceed with a full discussion. However, it seems on an initial look
that both sides have agreed to agree that something will be done with
only a vague reference to improving ties and no concrete reference to
any of the burning issues, such as the recognition of the Genocide,
the final settlement for Karabakh, the lifting of the Turkish blockade
and the opening of the mutual border with Armenia, the treatment of
the Armenian minority and its heritage in Turkey among others.
This is reminiscent of declarations for the need to proceed with the
ongoing ‘talks’ about resolving the Cyprus question. Both sides agree
to talk and nothing ever comes of it. It remains to be seen how this
benefits Armenia in any substantial manner, but it will surely be
used as a political propaganda card from Turkey on its EU membership
bid. After all, the EU has demanded from Turkey to normalise relations
with its neighbours and this can be presented by Turkey to the EU as
a significant move in that direction. The Western Press has already
embraced it as such, so it follows that Brussels will most likely do
the same. All this on the eve of Mr.20Obama’s much anticipated April
24 statement.
It would thus appear that Mr. Obama has found a miracle formula to
tie many loose ends, and the brainchild of this formula is the April
23 joint declaration. On the one hand he is no longer held captive
by his campaign pledge to recognise the Armenian Genocide for what
it was, as he now uses the pretext that doing so would undermine the
fledgling talks between Armenia and Turkey, even though he, much like
all other parties involved, knows full well that these talks lead to
a swamp-infested political dead end. On the other hand, he has managed
to assist Turkey’s EU entry bid, an important US foreign policy target
in injecting a bull headed NATO member in the core of European space.
Considering that the declaration has yet to be signed either by Armenia
or Turkey and that the contents of the actual agreement are as of
yet undisclosed, this leads one to believe that the declaration was
rushed to be made public on the eve of Armenian Remembrance Day. It is
not strange that Turkey, after so many years of diplomatic severance
with Armenia, would declare the intent of a possible change in policy
just on the right day to avert a potential recognition of the Genocide
by President Obama. It is equally not surprising that the President
himself would have urged the Turkish regime in Ankara to proceed with
such a move during his visit there.
Unfortunately, t he Armenian leadership has entered into a dance that
has no exit cue and bound all other governments that will follow it to
follow its steps. This is a retreating move, as Armenia no longer has
the upper hand and is forced to consult with Turkey on the compounded
issues, whereas before each issue had been handled on a separate
forum as is more appropriate. Keeping in mind how Turkey handled
the results of the referendum regarding the Annan plan for Cyprus by
blaming the Greek Cypriots for non-cooperation, Armenia risks being
seen as non-cooperative if it decides to pull out of these nonsensical
talks. Perhaps the Armenian leadership’s hopes are that Turkey will
open its border in the near future and thus boost the Armenian economy,
but without any guarantees that it shall do so, or indeed keep it open.
Arguably the biggest loser in all this will be Cyprus, as Turkey,
having suspended the ‘Armenian Problem’ for until the talks last,
will turn its full attention to isolating Cyprus as the ‘bad guy’
for not letting them into the EU, using the well-known school-yard
bully tactics implemented in its foreign policy with the argument in
front of the headmaster and other school children of "Look, all the
other boys don’t have any complaints from me, so since only this one
is complaining it is obvious that he is the problematic one, not I."
The full repercussions of this statement or the undisclosed agreement
have yet to unfold. One can at best be ambivalent about these
developments, if not outright pessimistic. In conclusion, one has
to note the irony in the appropriate choice of the descriptive word
‘road-map’ for the deal that has been declared. The first use of the
word was to coin the proposed settlement of another long standing
conflict, that between Israel and Palestine. And we can all see where
that has lead, abortive dead ends and much bloodshed.
Perhaps that final component is the secret ingredient that Mr. Obama
has included in his magic pie recipe. Time will tell but for now,
bon appétit Mr. President.
Diran Kassabian is a member of The Armenian National Committee
of Cyprus