YEREVAN, MAY 4, ARMENPRESS. Karen Abrahamyan has been relieved from the position of head of the general operative department of the General Staff – deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces.
The respective decree has been signed by President Armen Sarkissian based on the proposal of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
Karen Abrahamyan has been appointed head of the general operative department of the General Staff – deputy chief of the General Staff on June 15, 2020.
YEREVAN, April 27. /TASS/. Two Russian peacekeepers were injured after their vehicle hit a mine in Nagorno-Karabakh and their health condition is not life-threatening, the Armenian state news agency Armenpress reported on Tuesday.
“The incident occurred three days ago. A vehicle hit an anti-tank mine. Two servicemen were wounded. As of now, they are staying at a medical center and their health condition is not life-threatening,” the news agency quoted a spokesperson of the Interior Ministry of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic as saying.
Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, 2020 with intense battles in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting from November 10.
Under the document, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides maintained the positions that they had held, some districts passed over to Baku’s control and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the engagement line and the Lachin corridor in Nagorno-Karabakh. The statement also envisaged an exchange of prisoners of war under the “all for all” principle.
After the Russian peacekeepers were deployed to the region, the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh stabilized. Dozens of thousands of Karabakh residents who had fled their homes during the hostilities returned to the region with the help of the Russian peacekeeping contingent.
U.S. president Joe Biden’s historic declaration last Saturday that the Ottoman Empire’s systematic killing and deportation of 1.5 million Armenians in the early 20th century was a genocide came just a few hours before Montreal-area Armenians gathered at the Armenian monument on the edge of Autoroute 440 in Laval to mark Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.
Official U.S. position
The mid-afternoon event drew not only people of all ages from the Armenian community, but also many elected officials from the federal, provincial and municipal governments.
Biden’s declaration, which now reflects the official U.S. government position, came after five successive U.S. presidents danced for decades around the Armenian issue, while specifically avoiding use of the word “genocide.”
Most observers have seen this long-standing non-commitment as the result of the U.S. government’s not wanting to alienate its long-time ally, Turkey, which succeeded the Ottoman Empire after World War I.
A strategic decision
Since the end of World War II, the Americans have maintained a U.S. Air Force presence of 5,000 personnel at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey (which has been a NATO ally since 1952), and the U.S. continues to value the base for its strategic placement between the Middle East and Europe.
According to the U.S.-based Armenian National Institute, at least 30 countries have now recognized the Armenian genocide. However, the United Nations has yet to do so. The UN’s position is that it does not comment on events which took place before its founding in 1945.
Laval’s support for Armenians
Laval, which is home to a sizeable community of Armenians, has been at the forefront in taking positions with regards to Armenia’s past and more recent history. The Armenian genocide monument was erected on a small parcel of land donated by the City of Laval.
As well, in 2004, former Laval-Centre MP Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral successfully guided the adoption of a motion in the House of Commons overwhelmingly acknowledging the 1915 Armenian genocide while condemning it as a massive crime.
And last year, when a jurisdictional dispute between Azerbaijan and Artsakh escalated into warfare, Laval became the first Canadian city to pass a resolution expressing recognition for the independence of the predominantly Armenian-populated Artsakh, which is supported by the Republic of Armenia.
Overdue acknowledgment
In an interview with the Laval News, Maher Karakashian, chairman of the Armenian National Committee of Canada, noted that last year the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives recognized the Armenian genocide. It remained only for the country’s president to follow. No American president had referred to the Armenian genocide since Ronald Reagan during the 1980s.
‘Both morally and politically, this puts pressure on Turkey’
“We’ll see in the future if it will have repercussions with the superpowers of the world,” Karakashian said. “Both morally and politically, this puts pressure on Turkey. Because Turkey being a member or NATO, and NATO being led by the United States, there will be pressure. Although I see today that Ankara again officially objected or refused this recognition.”
Support from local MPs
Laval-Les Îles MP Fayçal El-Khoury, who attended the ceremony with fellow-MP Annie Koutrakis, said the U.S. government’s statement was important not only for Armenians, but for justice as a whole.
“I and my colleague, Annie, will always stand up for the Armenian cause, just as we do for the Greek cause because they are so similar,” he said, alluding to the oppression the two peoples suffered under Ottoman rule.
“I would like to congratulate the entire Armenian community worldwide for the announcement and position taken by President Biden – I believe that it was a long time coming,” said Koutrakis.
“As my colleague Fayçal mentioned, being of Hellenic origin, this is a cause that is especially close to my heart. “For, as you may know, as Greeks, we also have struggled to get the Pontic genocide, or even the greater Greek genocide, recognized worldwide, and we will continue towards that,” she added. “We share a history with our Armenian brothers and sisters. The Armenian community is very close and in my heart.”
President Joe Biden’s Statement on Armenian Remembrance Day, APRIL 24, 2021
Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring. Beginning on April 24, 1915, with the arrest of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople by Ottoman authorities, one and a half million Armenians were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths in a campaign of extermination. We honor the victims of the Meds Yeghern so that the horrors of what happened are never lost to history. And we remember so that we remain ever-vigilant against the corrosive influence of hate in all its forms.
Of those who survived, most were forced to find new homes and new lives around the world, including in the United States. With strength and resilience, the Armenian people survived and rebuilt their community. Over the decades Armenian immigrants have enriched the United States in countless ways, but they have never forgotten the tragic history that brought so many of their ancestors to our shores. We honor their story. We see that pain. We affirm the history. We do this not to cast blame but to ensure that what happened is never repeated.
Today, as we mourn what was lost, let us also turn our eyes to the future— toward the world that we wish to build for our children. A world unstained by the daily evils of bigotry and intolerance, where human rights are respected, and where all people are able to pursue their lives in dignity and security. Let us renew our shared resolve to prevent future atrocities from occurring anywhere in the world. And let us pursue healing and reconciliation for all the people of the world.
The American people honor all those Armenians who perished in the genocide that began 106 years ago today.
YEREVAN, APRIL 8, ARMENPRESS. The Defense and Security Affairs Committee of the Armenian parliament approved the government-authored bill on granting pardon to draft evaders.
The Cabinet approved the bill on Granting Pardon to Persons who Evaded Enlistment or Alternative Service, Musters or Mobilization on April 8. But the pardon will only be granted to those who evaded service before September 27, 2020 – the day when the 2020 Artsakh War began, and who are above the age of 27 (35 for reserve officers).
Justice Minister Rustam Badasyan had earlier said the government made the decision in order to enable draft evaders to “contribute to the economic, social, spiritual and cultural development” of the country. He said the decision was made upon the principle of solidarity.
Those who are fugitives under the respective article of the penal code will also be granted pardon.
YEREVAN, APRIL 26, ARMENPRESS. Caretaker Foreign Minister Ara Aivazian says the recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide is important not only in terms of truth and historic justice, but also the Armenian nation’s physical security.
“The first April 24th after the war had a clear and special international resonance,” Aivazian told ARMENPRESS when asked about the significance of US President Joe Biden’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide in terms of broader international recognition.
“This year, that day was signified with a very strong support by the international community to the Armenian people. High-level delegations arrived to Armenia despite the pandemic-related restrictions. Addresses were made from numerous of our international partners, including on the highest level. The recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide is important not only in terms of truth and historical justice but also the Armenian nation’s physical security,” Aivazian said.
Aivazian said he fully agrees with US President Biden’s emphasis that the global community must take actions to prevent atrocities like the Armenian genocide from ever happening again. “Armenia is a pioneer is advancing international agenda in genocide prevention and condemnation, and in this regard President Biden’s address is a very big contribution,” Aivazian said.
President Joe Biden is preparing to formally acknowledge that the systematic killing and deportation of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in modern-day Turkey more than a century ago was genocide, according to U.S. officials.
The anticipated move — something Biden had pledged to do as a candidate — could further complicate an already tense relationship with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Administration officials had not informed Turkey as of Wednesday, and Biden could still change his mind, according to one official. The U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
Lawmakers and Armenian-American activists are lobbying Biden to make the announcement on or before Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, which will be marked on Saturday.
One possibility is that Biden would include the acknowledgement of genocide in the annual remembrance day proclamation typically issued by presidents. Biden’s predecessors have avoided using “genocide” in the proclamation commemorating the dark moment in history.
A bipartisan group of more than 100 House members on Wednesday signed a letter to Biden calling on him to become the first U.S. president to formally recognize the World War I-era atrocities as genocide. Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California spearheaded the letter.
“The shameful silence of the United States Government on the historic fact of the Armenian Genocide has gone on for too long, and it must end,” the lawmakers wrote. “We urge you to follow through on your commitments, and speak the truth.”
Turkey’s foreign minister has warned the Biden administration that recognition would “harm” U.S.-Turkey ties.
Biden as a candidate marked the remembrance day last year by pledging that if elected he would recognize the Armenian genocide of 1915 to 1923, saying “silence is complicity.” He did not offer a timeline for delivering on the promise.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday said the president would have more to say Saturday on this remembrance day.
The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal first reported that Biden is preparing to acknowledge the genocide.
Should Biden follow through, he’ll almost certainly face pushback from Turkey, which has successfully pressed previous presidents to sidestep the issue.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu earlier this week insisted Turkey wasn’t concerned by any decision that Biden might make, but also suggested that such a move would be met with a harsh reaction.
“If the United States wants our relations to get worse, it’s up to them,” he said in an interview with Turkey’s HaberTurk news channel.
The relationship between Biden and Erdogan is off to a chilly start. More than three months into his presidency, Biden has yet to speak with him.
Ties between Ankara and Washington — which once considered each other strategic partners — have steadily deteriorated in recent years over differences on Syria, Turkey’s cooperation with Russia and more recently on Turkish naval interventions in the eastern Mediterranean, which U.S. officials have described as destabilizing.
Biden during the campaign last year drew ire from Turkish officials after an interview with The New York Times in which he spoke about supporting Turkey’s opposition against “autocrat” Erdogan. Still, Turkey was hopeful of resetting the relationship. Erdogan enjoyed a warm relationship with former President Donald Trump, who didn’t give him any lectures about Turkey’s human rights record.
“In the past, the arm twisting from Turkey was, ’Well we’re such a good friend that you should remain solid with us on this,’” said Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America, whose members have started a campaign to encourage Biden to recognize the genocide. “But they’re proving to be not such a good friend.”
Hamparian said he’s hopeful that Biden will follow through. He noted that the sting of former President Barack Obama not following through on his 2008 campaign pledge to recognize the Armenian genocide still lingers for many in the Armenian diaspora.
Samantha Power, who served as Obama’s United Nations ambassador and has been nominated by Biden to serve as administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, and deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes both publicly expressed disappointment that Obama didn’t act on the matter. Obama was concerned about straining the relationship with Turkey, a NATO member whose cooperation was needed on military and diplomatic efforts in Afghanistan, Iran and Syria.
Power said in a 2018 interview with Pod Save the World that the administration was “played a little bit” by Erdogan and others invested in delaying a genocide declaration.
Biden has sought to send the message that the U.S. will be a greater force on calling out human rights abuses and promoting democratic norms under his watch. That’s a departure from Trump, who found rapport with autocrats, including North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Erdogan and others.
Still, early in his presidency, Biden has faced criticism for failing to take action directly against Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman, even after the publication of U.S. intelligence findings that the crown prince had approved an operation to kill or capture U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi. He’s also been criticized for not following his condemnations of China’s oppression of Uyghurs and other minorities in western China with tougher action.
Gonul Tol, director of the Turkish program at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said Erdogan’s leverage has diminished and with Turkey’s economy suffering the Turkish leader’s reaction could be muted.
“Biden has been vocal about human rights abuses in countries across the world, including in Turkey, but it hasn’t gone very far beyond his rhetoric,” Tol said. “This is a chance for him to stand up on human rights with lower stakes.”
YEREVAN, APRIL 23, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian has sent a letter to President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili, expressing gratitude for the warm welcome shown to him during the recent official visit in Georgia, as well as for the constructive discussions about the bilateral and regional affairs, the Armenian President’s Office told Armenpress.
“Our meeting, which was held in an atmosphere of complete mutual trust and respect, outlined new directions for the future development and strengthening of the cooperation between Armenia and Georgia. I fully agree that we bear a responsibility for the formation of relations between the future generations of the Armenian and Georgian peoples.
I am happy to note that there are joint interests and promising prospective partnership in new technologies, education, science, infrastructure, artificial intelligence, energy, transport and other areas.
I believe that the practical and effective agreements reached during the visit will further deepen the cooperation between our countries in different fields for the welfare of our brotherly peoples”, reads the Armenian President’s letter addressed to the Georgian counterpart.
A couple walk at the Tzitzernakaberd memorial to the victims of mass killings by Ottoman Turks, in the Armenian capital of Yerevan.
(Hakob Berberyan / Associated Press)
By LAURA KINGSTAFF WRITER
APRIL 23, 2021 4:28 AM PT
WASHINGTON —
April 24 is a day of profound sorrow for ethnic Armenians everywhere, marking the date in 1915 when officials of the Ottoman Empire, the forerunner of present-day Turkey, rounded up and killed hundreds of Armenian community leaders in what is now Istanbul, then called Constantinople. That began a cascade of catastrophic events that left an estimated 1.5 million Armenians dead.
This far-reaching yet deeply intimate trauma has echoed down through the generations, including in the large Armenian diaspora in Southern California. As is done every year, Saturday will be solemnly observed in Armenia and by the diaspora around the world as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.
This year’s commemoration, though, may be a historic first, one accompanied by an American president formally placing that crucial designation — genocide — on the mass atrocities systematically committed by Ottoman Turks against the Armenian people.
Other countries such as Italy and Germany, which is home to a large ethnic Turkish population, have adopted that terminology in recent years, incensing Turkey, a NATO ally. The U.S. has demurred until now, but President Biden appears poised to take a step that the Armenian community and many backers in Congress consider painfully overdue.
Here is a look at a long-simmering issue and what a change in the official U.S. stance could mean.
It was not until 1946 that genocide — a term cobbled together from the Greek genos, meaning race or tribe, and the Latin cide, for killing — was recognized by the United Nations General Assembly as a crime under international law, galvanized by the Nazis’ infliction of the Holocaust on the Jewish people. Codified by U.N. convention two years later, genocide is somewhat narrowly defined in international law, but its main elements revolve around the intent to wipe out a particular group of people based on national, ethnic, racial or religious identity.
WORLD & NATION
A rich history of pre-genocide Armenia hides in family heirlooms and handwritten notes
Jan. 17, 2020
Armenians have campaigned for decades to have the designation applied to the slaughter that commenced 106 years ago. Over the years, growing numbers of historians have lent their support to the designation, and dozens of countries have accepted the Armenian genocide as rooted in historic fact.
If Biden carries through on a campaign pledge to recognize the genocide, casting it as part of the White House’s overall emphasis on the importance of human rights worldwide, his administration would become the 30th government to do so.
Congress passed a nonbinding resolution in 2019 recognizing the Armenian genocide.
Vehement objection. Turkey acknowledges widespread deaths in what it calls fighting between Ottomans, who were mainly Muslims, and Armenians, largely Christian, but insists the acts did not constitute a genocide in intent. Turkey argues that many of the deaths were due to hunger and disease during a forced mass exodus as World War I was erupting and the Ottoman Empire disintegrating, not the direct result of lethal force by Ottoman troops. The Turkish government also contests the Armenian death count commonly cited by historians, an estimated 1.5 million.
As reports circulated this week that Biden was expected to formalize the designation, Turkey voiced angry new protests. The latest came in a statement released Thursday, which cited President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as saying Turkey would fight on against “the so-called Armenian genocide lie” and those who “support this slander based on political calculations.”
Even in this early phase, the Erdogan-Biden relationship is far cooler than the one the Turkish leader enjoyed with former President Trump. On the issue of genocide, Trump, like other U.S. presidents before him, was reluctant to jeopardize ties with Turkey, which has been an often-recalcitrant but important U.S. partner in the Middle East, especially during the decade-long war in Syria.
But there have long been serious strains in the bilateral relationship, some stemming from Erdogan’s harshly authoritarian measures after an attempted coup in 2016. The Turkish government remains angry over the U.S. providing a haven to aging cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused by Erdogan of fomenting the coup attempt, and the Turkish leader caused consternation in Washington with the purchase of a Russian S-400 missile-defense system, viewed by the Pentagon as a threat to NATO security. The deal resulted in U.S. sanctions against Ankara.
European allies also reacted with dismay when Erdogan, in March, annulled Turkey’s ratification of a Council of Europe treaty on violence against women. That move reignited Western disapproval over the plight of women in a conservative society in which gender-based violence is rampant and female equality remains a distant prospect.
While a formal U.S. recognition of the Armenian genocide would be largely symbolic, Turkey could potentially make its displeasure clear by hampering American naval access to the Black Sea via the Bosporus, or complicating U.S. operations at Turkey’s sprawling Incirlik air base.
As little as possible. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki deflected questions about Biden’s intentions Wednesday and again Thursday. Before his election, Biden said he would make the genocide designation — but some previous U.S. leaders said the same as candidates, and then backed down once in office.
On Thursday, State Department spokesman Ned Price acknowledged the possibility of a Turkish backlash against a U.S. declaration. “As friends, as allies, when we have disagreements, we raise those. We discuss those,” he said. “And there’s no papering over them.”
Biden is under particular pressure from some prominent lawmakers from his own party, including Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), who has long championed the Armenians’ cause. Schiff and others point to the poignancy of the fact that, like the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide fades a bit more from direct living memory as fewer people every year remain alive who experienced the horrific events or their near-term aftermath.
Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson in Washington contributed to this report.
Armenian genocide timeline: Meaning, history, Biden plan – Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)
U.S. President Joe Biden told Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call on Friday that he intends to recognize the 1915 massacres and forced deportations of Armenians as genocide, sources familiar with the conversation told Reuters.
AL-Monitor
By Fehim Tastekin
April 12, 2021
[Turkey is reportedly gearing up to partner with China in the
construction of an artificial waterway parallel to the Bosporus, a
project with likely implications for Russia and the United States in
the Black Sea.]
While Turkey remains stuck between the West and Russia on a number of
strategic issues, its dilemmas might grow even more complicated with a
Chinese addition to the equations, as reports suggest that China could
assume a lead role in financing and building a controversial Turkish
waterway to the Black Sea.
Turkey’s purchase of Russian air defense systems, US legal proceedings
against a Turkish public bank for helping Iran evade US sanctions,
rows over the Syrian Kurds and Turkey’s posture in the Eastern
Mediterranean have led to unprecedented tensions in Turkish-US ties.
In a bid to open itself a wiggle room, Ankara has recently moved to
mend fences with its traditional Western partners, seeking to draw on
the value of military and economic collaboration.
One way to do that could be through a high-profile Turkish role in
NATO efforts to build up deterrence against Russia in its conflict
with Ukraine. Turkey has already fostered military cooperation with
Ukraine, including the supply of drones to Kyiv, and in January
assumed the command of NATO’s Very High Readiness Joint Task Force,
created in 2014 to deter Russia.
In another apparent move to woo the West and in conjunction with a
Western strategy to distress Russia in the Black Sea, Ankara is
seeking to speed up its project to build an artificial alternative to
the Bosporus Strait, called Canal Istanbul, with the apparent
intention of opening the 1936 Montreux Convention up for discussion or
even bypassing it. The convention regulates transit through the
Bosporus and the Dardanelles, which form a key maritime route linking
the Black and Mediterranean seas. It gives Turkey control of the
straits but rests on tight rules for military ships that restrict the
entry of non-littoral naval forces to the Black Sea.
Canal Istanbul, dubbed a “crazy project” by President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan when he first unveiled it in 2011, has attracted Chinese
interest as part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Chinese
companies are now reportedly eyeing the tender for the waterway,
estimated to cost more than $9 billion.
Given Turkey’s economic woes, many had assumed that financing problems
would snag the project, but the government came up with surprises.
Since March 20, Ankara has announced a legal amendment paving the way
for Canal Istanbul’s builders to benefit from state guarantees, the
approval of development plans for the project and preparations to
invite bids from contractors. Finally, Erdogan announced that
construction would kick off in the summer. “Canal Istanbul … will be a
new windpipe for the region. We will soon launch the tenders in phases
and break the ground in the summer,” he said April 7, adding that a
city for half a million people would be erected on the banks of the
45-kilometer (28-mile) waterway.
What led Erdogan to suddenly speed up the process? A financing offer
from China, according to Turkish journalist Jale Ozgenturk. “The
sought financial support is coming from China. Ankara is busy working
on the issue. There are four proposals at present for the upcoming
tender, and all of them are from Chinese companies,” Ozgenturk wrote
April 9. “Of course, China will not only finance Canal Istanbul, [but]
it will also assume the construction, having giants in the
construction sector,” she added.
According to another business journalist, Serpil Yilmaz, Chinese
lender ICBC and Hong Kong-based British bank HSBC are floated as the
prospective financiers of the project. Financial news site Finans365,
meanwhile, reported that ICBC was trying to create a consortium to
finance the construction of the waterway.
In earlier years, the head of the Bank of China’s Turkey branch had
said his bank was eager to finance infrastructure projects in Turkey,
while media reports had mentioned China National Machinery and China
Communications Construction among Chinese companies interested in
Canal Istanbul.
By tendering Canal Istanbul to the Chinese, however, Turkey might face
a trap reminiscent of its conundrum over the Russian S-400 systems.
First, there would be risks stemming from the modus operandi of the
Chinese. According to Turkish media reports, a Chinese proposal two
years ago involved up to $65 billion, including loans to finance the
construction of the waterway and other investments as part of the
sprawling project.
Though many see China’s purported “debt trap” diplomacy as a myth,
opponents of the Chinese option in Turkey point to controversies in
Kenya and Sri Lanka, where infrastructure projects have ended up in
Chinese hands after failures to repay Chinese loans. In such projects,
the Chinese typically issue loans and undertake the construction at
the same time, using workers and materials mostly from China.
In December, Ahmet Davutoglu, Erdogan’s former premier and foreign
minister who now leads an opposition party, brought up allegations of
plans to allocate land to China around Canal Istanbul, warning that
such a move would “do away with both national sovereignty and economic
viability.”
As for the second risk, Ankara seems to be framing Canal Istanbul as a
way to bypass the Montreux Convention, hoping to draw closer to
Washington. But by awarding the project to the Chinese it would offer
them a geostrategic advantage at the meeting point of Europe and Asia
at a time when the United States is trying to contain China. The
Chinese, who have already put money in strategic routes such as the
railway tunnel under the Bosporus and the third suspension bridge
connecting its Asian and European shores, certainly see Canal Istanbul
as a precious leg in the Belt and Road project.
Two other potential projects might increase Canal Istanbul’s value for
the Belt and Road. The first, which appears a very distant prospect at
present, is a canal linking the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea, seen as
a gateway to Central Asia. The other is a waterway similar to Canal
Istanbul that would offer an alternative to the Dardanelles, running
from the northern entry of the Dardanelles to the Gulf of Saros to the
north. This proposal was mentioned only in a footnote in the
environmental evaluation report for Canal Istanbul. But still, it
seems a sign of integrated planning.
The prospect of Chinese financing backing bears on Ankara’s policy on
the Uyghur issue. In the face of the Uyghur diaspora’s mounting
campaign against China, Ankara’s attitude has stood out as indifferent
and even gratifying to China. On March 10, lawmakers of the ruling
party voted down a proposal by the opposition Good Party for a
parliamentary inquiry into “inhumane practices” against the Uyghurs in
China. The Uyghurs share ethnic roots with the Turks, and their
region, Xinjiang, is often referred to East Turkestan in Turkey.
Ankara’s policy seems to have emboldened Chinese diplomats to shake
fingers at Turkish politicians who are supportive of the Uyghurs. On
April 6, the Chinese Embassy in Ankara posted a threatening Twitter
message to Good Party leader Meral Aksener and Ankara Mayor Mansur
Yavas after the pair commemorated the "Baren massacre” in “East
Turkestan” in 1990. “The Chinese side resolutely objects to any person
or force challenging China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The Chinese side reserves its right for a justified response,” the
embassy said.
In a speech in parliament only days before, Aksener recalled that the
development plans for Canal Istanbul were approved the day China’s
foreign minister was visiting Turkey. Addressing Erdogan, she asked,
“Are you hatching up something behind closed doors with China on the
Canal Istanbul nonsense in this difficult time for our nation? Are you
[giving up on] the rights and honor of the Muslim Turks in East
Turkestan for a few billion dollars?”
Almost two years after their delivery, Erdogan has yet to figure out
what to do with the S-400s, having bought them to show off to Western
partners that Turkey is not without alternatives. Now, could his dream
canal project turn into a nightmare tomorrow if he teams up with the
Chinese? Nothing is transparent in Ankara these days, and sweet dreams
cannot be taken for granted.