Author: Nargizian David

ERDOðAN: "IF NECESSARY, WE WILL WORK TOGETHER"

Sabah, Turkey
Oct 23 2007

Prime Minister Erdoðan gave the US Minister of Foreign Affairs
Condoleezza Rice the message to either, "hand over the PKK terrorists’
ringleaders or to work together with us in this operation."

Erdoðan, who spoke to Condoleeza Rice during the terrorism summit,
said: "if you do not want the Turkish army to hold a cross-border
operation, then you should hand over the terrorists as soon as
possible." Rice, who requested a few days, said: "if you carry out
a cross-border operation at this point, it will damage the Armenian
bill as well as our common interests."

"Give them to us before we enter Iraq"

Erdoðan called Rice during the terrorism summit and said: "if you do
not want the Turkish army to hold a cross-border operation, then you
should do something as soon as possible." Rice said: "if you carry out
a cross-border operation at this point, it will damage the Armenian
bill as well as our common interests."

According to SABAH’s diplomatic sources, Erdoðan called Rice during
the terrorism summit and said: "if you do not want the Turkish army
to hold a cross- border operation, then you should go in before us."

Rice stated: "if you carry out a cross-border operation at this point,
it will damage the Armenian bill and our common interests."

After the USA requested more time, the same message was communicated
to the US ambassador Ross Wilson. Ankara has changed their plans and
the Minister of Foreign Affairs Babacan’s US visit has been delayed
once again.

–Boundary_(ID_1tnbZq9FwuekFDb9/pDUnw)–

THE POLITICS OF "APPEEVEMENT": IS THERE A METHOD TO BUSH’S MIDDLE EAST MADNESS?
By Rannie Amiri

CounterPunch, CA
Oct 22 2007

Over the past several weeks, the United States has gone out of its
way to offend, irk and otherwise provoke a select group of leaders
and nations. Through a series of deliberate and calculated actions
intended to purposefully estrange those most likely to succeed at
diplomacy with Iran, its failure has been ordained and the stage for
military action set. For those who think the upcoming war will be
another Bush-Cheney folly (as they believe Iraq to be), the collusion
of the Democrats in the process again belies that assumption.

The groundwork was laid in September, when the Senate overwhelmingly
approved a resolution urging the State Department to designate
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a "foreign terrorist organization"–the
prerequisite term needed to justify the use of force and the first
ever such characterization of a governmental entity.

The Iranian parliament responded similarly, labeling the CIA and US
Army in kind for everything from use of atomic weapons in WWII to the
killing of civilians in Iraq [Surprisingly omitted was mention of the
CIA’s role in orchestrating the 1953 coup of the democratically elected
Iranian president, Mohammad Mosaddeq. This led to the installation of
the Shah, whose rule was ruthlessly enforced by the Israeli-trained
mercenaries of SAVAK, until the Iranian Revolution of 1979].

Defying all rational thought, Bush then had the audacity to certify
the opposite of Saudi Arabia last week; calling it an "anti-terrorism
allycooperating with efforts to combat international terrorism" it
allows the United States to allocate additional monies to the Kingdom.

Although purported Iranian support for Shia militant groups in Iraq
may be nominally true, there can be no doubt of their desire to see a
stable government run by fellow Shia Muslims succeed. Saudi Arabia,
on the other hand, has done its utmost to see it fail. The early
stages of the post-Iraq conflict witnessed the influx of thousands
of militants bent on exporting the radical Sunni version of Islam,
inspired and funded by Saudi Arabia, into the country. Suicide
bombings, mass marketplace carnage and destruction of religious
shrines have been hallmarks of these religious extremists and Sunni
Iraqi nationalist groups which Saudi Arabia likewise supports. As
if to officially sanction such violence, Saudi clerics even issued
a fatwa calling for the demolition of all the Shia holy shrines in
Baghdad, Najaf and Karbala. This makes the above Senate resolution
and presidential "certification" all the more extraordinary.

Quite artfully, the United States has also made sure a peaceful and
reasoned solution to the Iranian nuclear question never takes place,
primarily by alienating both Russia and China. For should they become
so disillusioned with the United States that they veto further punitive
measures leveled against Iran at the UN, they will have conveniently
left Bush and the Democrats "no other alternative but…" the use
of force.

And indeed this has been the case. Russian President Vladimir Putin,
recently completing a trip to Iran as part of the Caspian Sea Summit,
is still seething at United States plans to install a missile defense
system in Russia’s backyard through placement of interceptor missiles
in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic. This comes atop another
American initiative to build an oil and gas pipeline through Caspian
Sea countries yet bypass Russia.

To raise China’s ire, Bush decided to hold a public meeting with
the Dalai Lama–the first ever by a sitting US president–and award
him the Congressional Gold Medal. This prompted the enraged Chinese
to summon the US ambassador in Beijing for an explanation, further
escalating tensions. But was this a genuine show support for the
Dalai Lama or just a good opportunity to poke a finger in China’s eye?

In the midst of worsening Russian and Sino-American relations,
Congress decided to get into the act and rile the Turks by proposing
a resolution calling the killing of 1.5 million Armenians during WWI
under the Ottoman Empire an act of genocide. At the hint of it being
brought up for a vote, Turkey recalled its ambassador to Washington
and passed a parliamentary resolution the same day authorizing the
incursion of Turkish forces into Iraq to combat the PKK. If it was
possible to inflame the sensitivities of yet another country which
might provide needed diplomatic leverage with Iran, the United States
did well to take advantage of it.

So there you have it. The friend of a friend has been declared the
enemy and the enemy of a friend a great ally. In a matter of weeks,
the United States quite intentionally miffed the Russians, Chinese
and Turks under the guise of defending Europe, upholding human rights
and suddenly decrying an historical tragedy. This assures their
cooperation on Iran will be made all the more difficult and gives the
United States the pretext it needs to act unilaterally and likely,
militarily. An ingenious, yet diabolical, plan.

Rannie Amiri is an independent commentator on the Arab and Islamic
worlds. He may be reached at: [email protected].

The ‘Kurdish problem’ is our problem

Turkey has a legitimate complaint against the U.S. for not doing more
to stop Kurdish terrorists in Iraq.

Los Angeles Times

Editorial
October 22, 2007

The "Kurdish problem" used to be a Turkish problem, a Syrian problem,
an Iranian problem and an Iraqi problem. The U.S. invasion of Iraq has
turned it into an American problem — and lately, a very vexing one.

Failure to quell Kurdish terrorism could end 50 years of strong
relations between the United States and Turkey. The country matters a
great deal because it is the only genuine Islamic democracy in the
Middle East, the only Muslim country in NATO, a key ally in
Afghanistan and an essential transit route into Iraq. It’s also very
angry at the United States — and was so even before the House Foreign
Affairs Committee approved a bill condemning Turkey for the World War
I-era Armenian genocide. It’s probably impossible for Washington to
give Ankara what it wants, but this would be a good time to give
Turkey something.

It’s true that the Turkish parliament refused to allow U.S. troops to
pass though its territory to invade Iraq. It’s true that the Turks —
once the warmest of allies — now give poll responses showing them to
be the most anti-American population in the Middle East. And it’s true
that Turkey’s historic repression of the Kurds has made matters
infinitely worse, as has its refusal to negotiate with terrorists,
which thwarts political solutions.

Nevertheless, Turkey has a legitimate grievance. Rebels from the
Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, whom the U.S. State Department has
labeled terrorists, have stepped up attacks on Turkey from their
sanctuaries in northern Iraq, and the Turks are furious that the U.S.
military claims to be helpless to stop them. President Bush promised
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2004 to do more to stop the PKK
inside Iraqi Kurdistan. But in the last month alone, PKK fighters have
killed at least 25 Turkish soldiers and 12 civilians. Ankara can be
forgiven for complaining that Bush’s demand for nations to be "either
with us or against us" in the war on terror is not reciprocated.

So when the Turkish parliament last week authorized the use of
military force in Iraq, U.S. officials did not deny its right to do
so. They merely prayed aloud that Ankara would decide it’s not in
Turkey’s best interest to invade. But Turkish patience with unkept
American promises is understandably running out.

Gen. David H. Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, has reportedly
opposed diverting American troops "surging" in Iraq to a probably
fruitless campaign to roust PKK guerrillas who have been dug in for
decades among a supportive population in some of the Middle East’s
most rugged territory. But the United States could at the very least
pressure Kurdish leaders to clean up their backyards — or spare a few
U.S. Special Forces troops for a "snatch and grab" operation to
capture top PKK commanders.

Would the passive Kurdish authorities be more willing to act against
the PKK if they learned that the U.S. and Turkey were planning a joint
NATO operation against the sanctuaries? Washington should find out.

Source: oct22,0,1368284.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail

TOO MUCH SUCCESS; TURKEY
Ian Bremmer – The New York Times Media Group

The International Herald Tribune, France
October 20, 2007 Saturday

Just as Turkey seems to be emerging from a stretch of political
discontent, it finds itself drawn into a pair of potential
international conflicts.

In Washington, a resolution pending before the House of
Representatives, which would formally recognize the Armenian genocide,
has threatened to generate serious new tension between Washington
and Ankara.

And in Ankara, the Parliament voted Wednesday to authorize the
government to send troops into northern Iraq against Kurdish rebels
hiding there. Such an operation is fervently opposed by the Bush
administration.

Still, I was surprised to discover on a recent visit to Istanbul
that the real emerging risks in Turkey have more to do with domestic
politics than with all this foreign-policy turmoil.

Over the past three months, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s
Justice and Development Party (AKP) secured a solid parliamentary
majority, got its man elected president and developed a good working
relationship with at least one of the major opposition parties. The
ruling party now also appears to be enjoying a truce with Turkey’s
military, still a key player in the country’s politics.

Markets responded to Erdogan’s resounding July victory with
jubilation. Prices on Turkey’s largest stock exchange rose, and the
value of Turkey’s currency reached its highest level against the
dollar in more than two years.

Since AKP first rose to power in 2002, Erdogan has helped deliver
7.4 percent annual growth, lower inflation and bring in unprecedented
levels of foreign investment. A series of reforms have kept Turkey’s
bid to join the EU limping forward. The party’s new parliamentary
majority, 341 of 550 seats, frees Erdogan to pursue his agenda without
having to compromise with rivals.

Therein lies the real danger. Erdogan looks set to overplay his hand
in ways that upset Turkey’s delicate political balance.

An uneasy co-existence has taken hold with a range of domestic
critics who fear that Erdogan’s moderate Islamic party will erode the
country’s secularist traditions, and that his new strength threatens
their political and economic interests.

If Erdogan moves too far too fast, trouble won’t be far behind.

First, Erdogan says he plans to rewrite the country’s constitution. The
scale of the AKP’s electoral triumph speaks for itself, but efforts
to use the constitution to promote greater religious freedom – by
striking down a ban on the Islamic headscarf in universities, for
example – risk a strong backlash from those who see it as a symbol
of resistance to Turkey’s official secularism.

Erdogan’s political clumsiness has made matters worse. At a press
conference in September, he invited critics in the universities to
"mind their own business."

The greater danger could come from the military brass, who perceive of
themselves as guardians of Turkey’s secularist traditions. The current
constitution, the one Erdogan wants to rewrite, was drafted by the
generals in 1982. The new draft may well undermine the military’s
authority.

But if there’s an even better way to rile nationalists within the army,
it’s by using constitutional changes to win friends among minority
Kurds. One of the AKP’s biggest electoral boosts came from a surge
in support from southeast Anatolia, home to much of the country’s
restive Kurdish minority. The party won 53 percent of the vote there
this summer, up from just 27.7 percent in 2002.

An early version of Erdogan’s proposed constitutional changes, leaked
to the media, includes a proposal to amend the clause that establishes
Turkish as the country’s official language, a move that nationalist
critics say will encourage demands for education in Kurdish and other
minority languages.

Given the new tensions over Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq,
these proposed changes have become a major political issue.

But they also pose a more mundane problem for Turkey’s reform process:
They’re a distraction and a drain on time and political ca

An AKP official I spoke with told me the constitutional reform process
could take up to 18 months. That would force Erdogan to shelve other
reforms, many of them crucial for the EU accession process.

In particular, the measure the EU most forcefully insists must be
scrapped – the law that criminalizes public insults to "Turkishness"
– may not be addressed at all before Erdogan’s government puts the
new constitution to a parliamentary vote.

As Turkey debates these controversies, its economy shows early signs
of a slowdown.

The resolution in the U.S. Congress may yet be shelved, and the
Turkish military may limit its strikes in northern Iraq. But Turkey’s
domestic political problems are not going away. In fact, these new
opportunities to burnish his nationalist credentials may persuade
Erdogan to continue to press his advantage at home. That’s why the
real risks to Turkey’s delicate political balance come not from
Washington or Iraq, but from within.

* Ian Bremmer is president of Eurasia Group, a political risk
consultancy, and author of "The J Curve: A New Way to Understand Why
Nations Rise and Fall."

REPRESENTATIVES OF ETHNIC MINORITIES VISITED KARABAKH

KarabakhOpen
22-10-2007 15:22:00

The first visit of the representatives of ethnic minorities of Armenia
to Karabakh ended. The aim of the visit was to learn about the public
and political life in Karabakh, the state of ethnic minorities in
NKR, the peculiarities of their integration with the public life of
the country.

The members of the Coordination Board of the ethnic and cultural
organizations of the ethnic minorities of Armenia led by Sergo
Yeritsyan, adviser to the Armenian president, met with President
Bako Sahakyan and Speaker Ashot Ghulyan. The delegation members
represented Yezidis, Russians, Kurds, Assyrians, Jews, Greeks,
Georgians and Ukrainians.

Agreement was reached on holding a culture festival of ethnic
minorities of Armenia and Karabakh.

Russians, Ukrainians, Greeks, Azerbaijanis, Jews live in
Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Russian community is organized the best, which involves over 500
representatives of Slavic people. The Greek community is also active,
who live in several places in Karabakh.

The Public Radio broadcasts a weekly program in Russian for
non-Armenian speakers of Artsakh. There is also a radio channel
broadcasting programs in Azerbaijani. The Azat Artsakh publishes a
weekly news digest in Russian.

TURKISH PRIME MINISTER WARNS US: WE WILL ATTACK KURDISH REBELS IN IRAQ

The Times
October 22, 2007

Recep Tayyip Erdogan tells The Times that he needs nobody’s permission
to defend his country

Martin Fletcher and Suna Erdem Read The Times interview with the
Turkish Prime Minister in full

Turkey will launch military action against Kurdish rebels in northern
Iraq despite frantic appeals for restraint from America and Nato,
its Prime Minister has told The Times.

Speaking hours before the PKK, the Kurdish Workers’ Party, killed at
least 17 more Turkish soldiers yesterday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said
that Turkey had urged the US and Iraqi governments repeatedly to
expel the separatists but they had done nothing. Turkey’s patience
was running out and the country had every right to defend itself,
he said. "Whatever is necessary will be done," he declared in an
interview. "We don’t have to get permission from anybody."

Mr Erdogan, who begins a two-day visit to Britain today, also offered
a bleak assessment of relations between the US and Turkey, a country
of huge strategic importance to Washington. He said that a "serious
wave of antiAmericanism" was sweeping Turkey, called America’s war in
Iraq a failure, and served warning that if the US Congress approved a
Bill accusing the Ottoman Turks of genocide against Armenians during
the First World War, the US "might lose a very important friend".

The sombre and unsmiling Prime Minister was only a little less critical
of the European Union, accusing some members of reneging on their
promises to admit Turkey and claiming that the EU had inflicted a
"big injustice" on his country over Cyprus.

Mr Erdogan’s belligerence will cause alarm in Washington and London,
and was probably designed to do so. One aide said that he was engaging
in "open diplomacy". The Kurdish regional government, which has a force
of about 100,000 men, has promised to resist any incursions. The PKK
is threatening to destroy pipelines carrying Iraqi oil to Turkey, and
the only peaceful region of Iraq could easily be plunged into chaos.

A Turkish attack on PKK bases in northern Iraq would also cause a
serious breach with Washington. Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country
of 75 million people, has Nato’s second-largest army, is a key ally
in America’s "war on terror" and provides a vital supply route for
US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Late last night Mr Erdogan said that Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary
of State, had asked Turkey to delay any action for a few days. He
told Dr Rice he expected "speedy action" from the US.

But in his interview with The Times Mr Erdogan was in no mood to heed
Western appeals for restraint. The PKK was hiding behind the US and
Iraqi governments, he complained. It was using American weapons. "We
have told President Bush numerous times how sensitive we are about
this issue but have not had a single positive result."

The targets were not innocent civilians or Iraq’s territorial integrity
but a terrorist organisation that regularly attacked Turkish targets,
he said. "If a neighbouring country is providing a safe haven for
terrorism . . . we have rights under international law and we will
use those rights and we don’t have to get permission from anybody."

Military action could be avoided only if the Americans and Iraqis
expelled the PKK, closed its camps and handed over its leaders,
he said.

Mr Erdogan said that last week’s parliamentary vote authorising
military action showed that Turkey’s patience was exhausted. He would
not be drawn on the scale or timing of any operation, but Turkey
is thought to have more than 60,000 soldiers massed along the Iraq
border. Other Turkish officials said that the PKK had six training
camps and 3,500 fighters in the mountains of northern Iraq.

Mr Erdogan also rebukedThe Times for publishing an interview last
week with Murat Karayilan, a PKK leader in northern Iraq. He said that
the newspaper had allowed itself to be "used as a propaganda tool".

Mr Erdogan will speak in Oxford tonight and meet Gordon Brown
tomorrow. He is likely to rebuke the US on several counts. He said
that the war in Iraq had fuelled Turkish hostility towards the
US. "There’s no success that I can see," he said. "There’s only the
deaths of tens of thousands of people. There’s just an Iraq whose
entire infrastructure and superstructure has collapsed."

He accused the Democrat-controlled foreign affairs committee of "firing
a bullet" at US-Turkish relations by approving the "so-called Armenian
genocide Bill". "America might lose a very important friend," he said.

Mr Erdogan also had harsh words for some European countries. France,
Germany and Austria are openly opposed to Turkish membership of the
EU. He said that Britain had supported Turkey from the start, but
other states who agreed to open accession talks in 2005 were "not
standing by their word". He said that Turkey was "far more advanced"
than the most recent entrants from Central Europe.

He identified Cyprus as the main obstacle, and said that the EU
perpetrated a "big injustice towards Turkey and the [Turkish] northern
Cypriots". In a referendum in 2004 Turkish Cypriots approved a UN
plan to reunite the island whereas the Greek Cypriots rejected it. He
protested that the Greek Cypriots were rewarded for their obstinacy
with EU membership while the Turks were punished.

The interview took place in an office with a spectacular view
towards Asia.

Despite his criticism Mr Erdogan insisted that Turkey had decided
irrevocably to throw in its lot with the West, and not with Russia
and the East.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Kirk Kerkorian going to visit Armenia in near future
20.10.2007 16:24 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan met with
leadership of Lincy Foundation in Los Angeles.

During the meeting, Kirk Kerkorian said he is going to visit Armenia
in near future, the RA government’s press office reported.

Serge Sargsyan also attended a reception given by the Armenian
community in his honor. Delivering a speech at the event, the Armenian
PM spoke about formation of a powerful and prosperous Armenian state,
Armenia-Diaspora cooperation and international recognition of the
Armenian Genocide.

ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC AND RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCHES DISCUSS COOPERATION
DEVELOPMENT ISSUES

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, NOYAN TAPAN. Archbishop Yeznik Petrosian,
responsible for the Interchurch Relations of the Mother See of Holy
Etcmiadzin in Moscow, Smolenski, the Chairman of the Foreign Relations
Department of the Russian Church, and Kiril, the Metropolitan of
Kaliningrad, discussed issues concerning the agenda and terms of the
second stage of the dialogue between the Armenian Apostolic and Russian
Orthodox Churches. According to the information provided by the
Information Services of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the
clergymen, considering the continuation of the dialogue necessary,
reached an agreement on holding a number of joint meetings in 2008
within the framework of the dialogue. Ideas were exchanged on the
further development of the cooperation existing between the two
churches.

World Magazine
Oct 19 2007

New battlefront

Turkey: Turkey’s parliament authorizes military into northern Iraq to
oust rebels

by Jill Nelson

Turkish soldiers patrol on the Turkish-Iraqi border
Iraq’s Kurdish north has been a sanctuary for thousands of Iraqis
fleeing the chaos and sectarian killings in Baghdad and the volatile
provinces. That could all change after Turkey’s Parliament burst into
applause on Oct. 17 upon authorizing a military incursion against
Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq – a blow to the battered Iraqi
government and its war-weary civilians.

Turkish leaders say that an assault is not imminent, but their action
provoked Washington and Baghdad. President George Bush urged Turkish
leaders to rethink the resolution. Iraqi leaders – fearful that such an
incursion could throw their only peaceful region into chaos – flew to
Ankara to persuade its leaders to engage in diplomacy instead of
combat.

Want to read more? Get news and commentary each week from WORLD
Magazine and up-to-the-minute news and features from WORLDMag.com.
Click here to find out how!
Journalist and political writer Kenneth Timmerman recently spent
several days with Iranian Kurdish rebels in Iraq who control some of
the area Turkey considers "cleaning out." The terrain is treacherous,
he said, with mountain peaks reaching past 10,000 feet and roads
susceptible to guerrilla attacks. He has little faith that Turkey can
maneuver a successful operation in northern Iraq. "The Kurds will do
what they have done for generations, which is to simply melt back
into the mountains," Timmerman told WORLD.

Classified as a terrorist group by the United States and others, the
Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, has plagued Ankara for decades.
Although their quest for a Kurdish state within Turkey eventually
transformed into a less-threatening crusade for basic rights, an
escalation in violence in the past two years has rekindled old
hostilities. Two recent attacks – one that killed 13 Turkish soldiers
and a bus ambush that left 12 civilians dead – again brought the
Kurdish clash to the forefront of Turkish politics.

The vast majority of Kurds don’t support PKK and its splinter groups.
Iraqi Kurdistan depends on trade with Turkey to support the growing
population of both native Kurds and those newly displaced from the
south. President Jalal Talabani, an ethnic Kurd, called on the PKK to
end its guerrilla warfare in Turkey and urged Ankara not to send more
troops into Iraq: "We consider the activities of the PKK against the
interests of the Kurdish people first and then against the interests
of Turkey."

David Cuthell, Executive Director for the Institute of Turkish
Studies, says the Kurds would have their own state "in a perfect
world" but are "cursed by geography and history." The Kurdish people
comprise an estimated 20 percent of Turkey’s population and have
substantial minorities in Iraq, Iran, and Syria.

Turkey has received its share of international criticism for
human-rights abuses against Kurdish minorities. And Timmerman says
the Kurds fighting today are quite different from the old PKK. Their
primary grievance is an article in the new Turkish constitution – set
for ratification later this month – stating that the people of Turkey
are Turks: "The Kurds believe – rightfully so in my view – that this
amounts to ethnic supremacy."

Complicating diplomacy is a congressional measure labeling as
genocide the murder of 1.5 million Armenians in Turkey during World
War I recently approved in the U.S. House. The resolution – largely
ceremonial and backed by Democratic leadership – lost steam after
almost a dozen lawmakers withdrew support. Some cited warnings from
the White House, which called the measure "dangerously provocative,"
while others attributed their shift to the possibility of Turkey
severing diplomatic ties while allies in the region are in short
supply.

Cuthell says the measure is philosophically bankrupt: "This is just
walking up to the Turks, poking them in the eye, and then asking them
to do a favor," he said.

Underlying the fear of severed ties with Turkey is the Iranian
threat. Timmerman, who serves as the executive director of the
Foundation for Democracy in Iran, suspects Turkey’s leaders are on a
journey toward an Islamic state and says the country’s recent
military and economic alliance with Iran, "which includes joint
military planning for the offensive against the Kurds," is
"especially troubling."

With winter around the corner, rebel activities are expected to go
dormant, providing new opportunities for diplomacy. "The U.S. and
Turkey have a real deep and profound congruence at many levels," said
Cuthell, "and we need to make sure we don’t let untamed remarks and
resolutions undermine what has been a long-standing and very solid
relationship."

Charleston Gazette, WV
Oct 19 2007

Our allies the Turks are gravely insulted by pending bill

John Warner

DON’T ASK me why he lives there. Even if I understood, which I do
not, I could not explain why my `little’ brother and his wife retired
in Turkey and built their dream home in the southern coastal
mountains overlooking a beautiful Mediterranean harbor.

They have long had family ties and personal interests in the
Mediterranean culture and to the world of Islam.

My brother spends about a week in Buckhannon with us every summer,
and we communicate almost daily by e-mail. Recently he has been very
concerned with the movement in the U.S. Congress to make another
enemy in the Middle East – namely, the determination of the
Democratic majority to label events in Turkey back in the early years
of the 20th century as genocide.

It is his belief, based on lots of time spent in southern Europe and
in Turkey, that America has done just about everything possible to
convert our friends into enemies, and this latest move is simply
beyond belief.

Yes, there was a terrible war in the second decade of the past
century. Yes, many things happened that were cruel beyond measure.
Yes, many Armenians were killed, horribly and needlessly. But to go
back and put an unnecessary label on those events, events for which
no living Turk is now responsible, is an absolutely foolish and
self-destructive plan on the part of my beloved Democrats in
Congress. Stop, you guys! Don’t do it! Nancy Pelosi, please redirect
your fellow members.

My brother’s recent e-mails relate a visit with Rep. Steve Solarz, an
18-year Democratic member of Congress – representing Brooklyn – who
has also built a villa in a little harbor town in Turkey. Here are my
brother’s comments:

Oct. 11: `Just back from another late lunch. On Euronews, I saw two
Turks asked if they were surprised by the vote yesterday and both
(who were not together and were interviewed separately) answered
almost identically. No, they were not surprised. America was not a
country anyone could ever count on as a friend. The only difference
between the two answers is that one referred to America as an
`imperialist’ country. Very sad. In what has now been my rather
extensive reading about Turkey, and my experience living here for
four years, one particular thing I have read comes to mind: You can
fight a Turk and still be his friend, but never insult a Turk. You
will never be forgiven. Turks are now absolutely furious at America.
`Hell hath no fury like a Turk insulted.’ If the Armenian resolution
passes in the House, it will surprise me if Turkey does not do
everything in its power to make America pay for it.’

Oct. 12: `Unfortunately, I think it will be all over if it passes in
the House. The Turks are already furious it has passed in committee.
If it passes in the House, I do not think there will be any consoling
them. They will have been insulted beyond their ability to endure
insult. Steve Solarz is pretty sure the bill would never get through
the Senate; but the damage will have been done if it passes in the
House. Turkey will react on that and the rest will have little
meaning to them. A Turk interviewed this evening pointed out that
going back to the Korean War, more Turks have died fighting with
Americans than have soldiers of any other country. This `thank you’
is virtually impossible for the Turks to understand and accept.’

Oct. 13: `Steve tells me that the overwhelming majority of Americans
know nothing about the resolution, and less about what happened to
the Armenians in 1915, but that if they knew all the facts about what
happened then, and the consequences of adopting the resolution now,
they would be against it by large margins. More and more news
articles I read point out that this vote is the result of a very
well-organized Armenian lobby in the U.S.

`With his permission, I add this final comment from Solarz: `If the
resolution passes the House, there is sure to be a tremendous
backlash. The Turkish government will feel obligated to respond in a
way that, without the pressure of public opinion, they would never
do. The consequences will be extreme and long-lasting. If the Turks
decide to restrict our use of Incirlik, the air base from which we
support and supply our troops in Iraq, it could put our forces there
in greater jeopardy than they are at present.”

Warner, professor emeritus at West Virginia Wesleyan College, is a
Gazette contributing columnist.

007101814