The Turks are freaking out because Obama appointed Samantha Power to be senior Director

[Hope And Change]

Samantha Power gets a top White House job, backs Armenian claims

Hurriyet Daily News Online, 31 January 2009

U.S. President Barack Obama appointed Samantha Power to a senior foreign policy job at the White House. Power supports the Armenian claims regarding the 1915 incidents, a move likely to create concern in Turkey.

Officials familiar with the decision told the Associated Press that Obama has tapped Power to be senior director for multilateral affairs at the National Security Council.

Power has resigned from the Obama campaign after calling Hillary Clinton a "monster" and made some pro-Israel activists unhappy with her past criticism of Israel.

Her new post will require close contact and potential travel with the Secretary of State Clinton.

Power is an expert on human rights and foreign policy. She is currently a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

She also known as a fierce supporter of the Armenian claims regarding the 1915 incidents.

The issue of 1915 incidents is highly sensitive for Turkey as well as Armenia. Around 300,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks, died in civil strife that emerged when Armenians took up arms, backed by Russia, for independence in eastern Anatolia.

However Armenia, with the backing of the diaspora, claims up to 1.5 million of their kin were slaughtered in orchestrated killings in 1915. The issue remains unsolved as Armenia drags its feet in accepting Turkey's proposal of forming a commission to investigate the claims.


MOST PRO-ARMENIA ADMINISTRATION

The new US administration became the most pro-Armenian claims administration in the history with the appointment of Power, Hurriyet daily reported on Saturday.

Obama had pledged to recognize the Armenian claims regarding the 1915 incidents during the election campaign. Vice President Joseph Biden, Clinton and the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi also support Armenian claims.

Also the new director of CIA, Leon Panetta, also backs the Armenian claims on this highly controversial issue on which the historians and experts are divided.

Hurriyet said it is worried that Obama will use the term "genocide" in his statement on April 24 or a new legislation will be pushed to the Congress to recognize the Armenian claims, such moves likely to spark crisis between Ankara and Washington.

http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/world/10899044.asp?gid=244">Hurriyet

Around 300,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks, died in civil strife that emerged when Armenians took up arms, backed by Russia, for independence in eastern Anatolia.

Also the new director of CIA, Leon Panetta, also backs the Armenian claims on this highly controversial issue on which the historians and experts are divided.

What a load of BS.Can`t stand Turkey`s hypocrisy.

[BuddhaGirl]

1. Turkey can suck it along with all the other deniers

as far as the Armenian Genocide is concerned. My ex is Armenian; members of his family died in the Genocide, including his grandfather who was arrested in Istanbul with other Armenian intellectuals at the outset of this tragic event.

[Captain Hilts]

5. I agree. Welcome aboard Ms. Powers. nt

[AtomicKitten]

2. Power is a woman of consequence and I'm glad she has Turkey nervous re: this genocide.

[Cha]

3. Wow! So glad to have

Samantha Power back and I know this will give a lot of Armenians Hope.

[hedgehog]

4. I am well aware of past genocides, but I really hope Ms. Powers can shine a light

on on-going genocides.

Whatever you think of the recent events in Gaza, it was extremely hypocritical for so many in the Mos lem world to denounce the Israelis for the deaths of Moslems there while continuing to be silent about the Moslem on Moslem violence in Sudan!

[Posteritatis]

6. Good! Let those head-in-sand denialist fuckers throw their tantrums (nt)

[SoxFan]

7. This is precisely why I admire Samantha Power

Her book tore the Turks several new ones, and exposed the moral vacuity of their position.

[Peace Patriot]

8. I don't know much about the Armenian Genocide. Can someone tell me why

Turkey has taken almost 100 years to apologize and make amends. I mean, everyone involved in dead, right? And we have since seen UN-sponsored and other "truth and reconciliation" processes help bring closure to such disputes. Why are current Turks so obdurate about this? Is there some current issue--such as a land dispute, desire to secede, or some geo-political reason, or economic reason--why Turkey can't just be magnanimous and end it?

I do recall that Sibel Edmonds was onto very serious corruption, among the Bushwhacks (if I recall correctly) about Turkish bribes to US politicians for siding with Turkey on this controversy (and other foul dealings). But why would the Turks care so much about such an old event?

[Posteritatis]

10. If they admit it's a genocide they're worried about legal/political/etc obligations

It's still orthodoxy there that Armenians are evil and run foreign governments secretly to defame Turkey with anti-Turkish lies about genocides and so on. A lot of them basically think "we didn't kill them and we're glad they're dead." If they admit that, yes, they tried to exterminate them, then that would open various cans of worms which should have been opened decades ago in the first place; staying locked in denial about it's become a matter of sacred principle, like the Cuba blockade or moon landing deniers or any other case of terminal stupidity.

There's plenty of Armenians/Kurds/etc in the country who do want to secede, but that's as much excuse as reason for their attitude. At this point it pretty much is just the Turkish government going "LAA LAA LAA I CAN'T HEAR YOU" because they don't want to think about the whole situation. I'm also pretty sure Turkey still has a law that declares saying anything bad about the country is a crime. "you guys committed genocide" falls under that.

If you want an amusing time, look up books on the Armenian genocide on Amazon and read the reviews. You can play Spot the Turkish Reviewers!

[BuddhaGirl]

11. here is a good article from Mother Jones

about the genocide:

http://www.motherjones.com/news/dailymojo/2004/04/04_534.html

[Hippo_Tron]

9. I'm a big fan of Samantha Power, I hope she gets to to be National Security Advisor eventually

Jim Jones made a lot of sense for the first term because he's a good guy to help clean up the clusterfuck that Bush left us with. But almost nobody lasts 8 years in that job because it's stressful as hell. Once Jones and Clinton stabilize things in the first term, bring Power in for some fresh energy and new ideas in the second term.