So-called Armenian Genocide On U.S. Agenda
A possible yes vote by the US Congress on the issue is already handicapped anyway. Such a decision, taken on the heels of a recent Turkish-US rift following Ankara’s ‘failure’ to back Washington on the Iraq war, would inevitably look like a ‘payback’ decision. Do you think that Congress would be even considering the measure if our Parliament had allowed the US to use Turkish soil as a springboard for a northern front into Iraq? Who would believe in the sincerity of a decision about the world’s gravest crime, genocide, if it is completely dependent on shifting political minds?
A number of US insurance companies sold life insurance policies to a few thousand Armenians well before the incidents back early in the last century, but never paid on them up due to a lack of demand. Yet we heard recently that heirs to those Armenians, whose numbers are estimated at 7,000-8,000, have applied to these insurance companies to get their ancestors’ money. It’s not clear whether Congress’ decision to recognize the allegation would help them to get it. Following World War II, the US forced Switzerland’s Central Bank plus other banks as well as the Swiss government to pay huge sums of money to the Jewish people. But this was legally possible because there was a Holocaust decision taken during the Nuremberg trials. However, no judicial decision on the Armenian incidents has yet been taken by an internationally recognized court. Moreover, US courts are legally denied any power to pass a binding judgment on the issue.
Over the last five years, we have seen more and more research and meetings both domestic and foreign on the Armenian incidents. A Turkish-Armenian reconciliation commission has been established, and though only partially, the body has discussed this longstanding problem between the two countries. In time, the strength of Turkey’s thesis on the issue has come to be much better understood. Prominent figures within the British and Israeli government have declared that they do not regard the incidents as genocide. Even the Swedish Parliament withdrew its decision recognizing the so-called genocide just a year after adopting it.
Genocide is the attempted total destruction of a people due to racist hatred such as anti-Semitism. However, Turks have never had any feelings of enmity or hostility towards Armenians. Yet certain countries, ones which harbor racist hatred within their own cultures, are alleging that there have been genocides in many countries in the world, including Turkey. At a 2000 congressional hearing, one congressman said, ‘What we did to the Native Americans was also a genocide.’ Is the US trying to cover up its own genocide of Native Americans by periodically dredging up the so-called Armenian genocide issue?
