DIFFERENT PRIORITIES ON DIFFERENT SIDES OF ATLANTIC
Sylvia Tiryaki
Turkish Daily News , Turkey
Sept 26 2007
Not writing in line with the rhetoric of the Armenian Diaspora
(basically American – and French) regarding Turkish-Armenian relations
usually leads to a flood of unwanted reactions.
Empirically speaking, some of the "feedback" is unpleasant, some of it
very unpleasant, some very insulting and full of hatred. However, all
the e-mails [which for instance have labeled me as a person maximally
stupid, uneducated, primitive with the "Ottoman medieval mentality,"
and also cursed me in such vulgar ways that this paper would have
to blush if even the "most innocent" of those invectives was written
here] had one thing in common: Their "authors" were from states like
California or Florida.
Well, I must admit, that at the time when I started receiving all this
"attention" I wasn’t much interested in the demographic composition
of the federal states. I just believed that both Turkish and Armenian
people could highly benefit from a potential reconciliation. Although
I have learnt "enough" about the demographic compositions since
than it remains perplexing why considering the establishment of the
amity in the Caucasian region (or elsewhere) more important than any
pushing of the "Armenian genocide denial bills" through creates such
volatile reactions.
Yet, this "who doesn’t play with us plays against us" mindset of
the powerful Armenian lobby in the United States seemed to play
a role also a few days ago when Patriarch Mesrob II (Mutafyan),
the spiritual and religious leader of the Turkish Armenian Orthodox
community, was visiting the States. Patriarch Mesrob II, who is of
course deeply concerned with the relations between Armenians and Turks,
wholeheartedly supports the reconciliation through intercultural and
inter-religious dialogue between the two. It is needless to say that
the unilateral campaigns for the adoptions of the "Armenian genocide
resolutions," like those currently pending both in the Senate and the
House of Representatives of the United States, don’t set a healthy
ground for mutual rapprochement.
A blow to dialogue
Be it as it may, Mesrob II’s speech titled "The Impasse between Turks
and Armenians Must Be Broken" which was scheduled to be delivered
at the Woodstock Theological Center of Georgetown University has
been indefinitely postponed, reportedly as a result of the Armenian
U.S. Diaspora’s pressure.
Apparently, people who didn’t want him to speak in the U.S. about the
necessity and possible ways of understanding between the two peoples
don’t desire any healthy dialogue. Or at least its continuous absence
doesn’t disturb them. And indeed, why should it? Why should those
living in the U.S. mind the nature of the relations between Turkey
and Armenia?
However, things look different from the other side of Atlantic. So
are the priorities. Thus it might not be too far stretched to presume,
that had the presentation by Mesrob II been scheduled in Armenia, it
wouldn’t have been canceled. Basically because breaking the impasse
between Turks and Armenians is desired by many living in the region
where the reconciliation is more than needed.
According to polls, the good relations with their neighbors – that
would naturally result to the inclusion of Armenia into the regional
structures and its development – are the priority for the majority
of Armenian Armenians. And this doesn’t necessarily correspond with
the primary agenda of those living on the other side of the Atlantic.
* Sylvia Tiryaki can be reached at [email protected]