Turkey threatens 'serious consequences' after US vote on Armenian genocide

[FarCenter]

Strategic partnership at risk despite Barack Obama's attempts to stop Congress resolution
Robert Tait in Istanbul and Ewen MacAskill in Washington
guardian.co.uk, Friday 5 March 2010 21.34 GMT
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/05/turkey-us-vote-armenian-genocide

Turkey has threatened to downgrade its strategic relationship with the US amid nationalist anger over a vote in the US Congress that defined the mass killings of Armenians during the first world war as genocide.

Barack Obama's administration, which regards Turkey as an important ally, was today desperately seeking to defuse the row. It expressed its frustration with the House of Representatives' foreign affairs committee, which voted 23-22 yesterday in favour of a resolution labelling the 1915 massacre of up to 1.5 million Armenians a "genocide".

A furious Turkey may now deny the US access to the Incirlik air base, a staging post for Iraq, as it did at the time of the 2003 invasion, or withdraw its sizeable troop contribution to the coalition forces in Afghanistan.

On the diplomatic front, the US needs the support of Turkey, which has a seat on the UN security council, in the push for sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme. Turkey is also helpful to the US on a host of other diplomatic issues in the Middle East and central Asia.

The White House and state department began work today to try to prevent the controversial issue making its way to the floor of the house for a full vote.

<SNIP>

[tekisui]

1. I'm going to post this in all the Armenian threads:

Grabbed from DUer Wilms

[Gravel Democrat]

19. Summer wear

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[tabasco]

2. The Ottoman Empire awakes!

:boring:

[Selatius]

3. If the Turks wanted their way, they should copy Wall Street. Bribe them all come re-election time.

Just purchase shares in American corporations. Those corporations, in turn, spend money influencing Congress. They do it every two years.

Since the Supreme Court affirms that corporations are entitled to 1st Amendment protection, it makes sense that a way around prohibitions against foreign money in campaigns is to buy-in to corporations inside the United States because corporations can spend money to influence elections.

[RKP5637]

5. Yep, anyone can control the country now BUT We the People. Nice place. n/t

[Wilms]

6. They owned Hastert. And now he lobbies for Turkey.

When he was Speaker, this would never come to a vote.

Poor Obama with his two majorities.

[hlthe2b]

4. Domino effect of our turning our back on our principles throughout the decades...

Had we chosen not to buy into the lie many years ago, Turkey would have faced up to the facts, or at least moved on... Now, that we are in a world of hurt vis-a-vis our relationship with Turkey and consequences, trying to do the right thing is going to cost us--greatly. Somehow, I think foreign policy was a bit more simple when we held true to our values--followed Geneva Convention's definition and outlawing of torture and other treaties...

And I might remind, our Boomer bashers among us... that the Cheneys and Rumsfelds, who moved us on the disastrous path, were actually members of "the Greatest" generation--not boomers.

[Robb]

7. What're they gonna do...

...tell Azerbaijan to stuff it, thus effectively blocking the only natural gas pipeline project that could possibly bring Turkmen gas to Europe?

...And then buy Turkmen gas for itself through Iran?

Oh, wait. :D

[Turbineguy]

10. Cut off the supply

of Turkish Delight. Now there will be no point in going through the wardrobe.

[AllentownJake]

8. In short

Go fuck yourself Turkey. Your great grandparents committed a genocide. Live with it.

[sabrina 1]

9. Why would the WH and the State Dept. try to black a vote

that gets justice for the Armenians after so long? Let the Turks whine, have we become so weak as a nation that We need TEHM more than they need us? Hasn't anyone ever heard of calling someone's bluff before? Besides, if they wait and this administration keeps betraying the people who elected them, Republicans will be back in power and I'm sure the Turks can find a few of them to pay off to get a different vote.

This is what happens when a country abandons its principles and sells itself to the highest bidder. If this country operated on what is right and let it be known that no amount of money will change that, or threats, no one would be offering money or threats or air-bases to get their way with us. But we are up for grabs to whoever has the most to offer.

As far as Turkey not cooperating regarding Iran, that would seem to be a good thing.

And if there were anyone in the WH with any brains, which does not seem to be case anymore, they would simply ignore the rantings of Turkey and end up getting whatever they want.

Since when does the WH try to influence the House of Representatives on behalf of a foreign nation above the interests of the American people? That pretty much tells us whose interests are important to this WH. There WAS a genocide committed and Congress has every right to tell the truth about it.

[hlthe2b]

13. Apparently you don't recall the Bush* administration doing the same

They strong armed Congress to halt any resolutions--including getting a letter together from numerous former SOS.

I'm not justifying it at all... just laying out the facts.

[sabrina 1]

15. Yes, I do remember. I'm not sure what your point is though.

My point, probably not clearly made, is that we lost our principles, as you pointed out re Bush although he was not the first, and here we have a Democratic WH about to continue the slide to becoming a country that has no principles at all.

[hlthe2b]

16. That is my point...

As per one of my more comprehensive posts upstream... had we followed our principles on this and similar matters the past several decades, this issue would have been addressed, instead of posing a major threat to our foreign policy

[sabrina 1]

18. Ah, okay ~ sorry for the confusion. I just read your post above

and couldn't agree more. Very well said.

[hlthe2b]

23. re:

;)

Obama is boxed in now from our inability to follow our principles in recent decades... I hope he and SOS Clinton can finesse this.

[L0oniX]

11. Cool ...one less US military base.

[yellowwood]

12. I Don't Agree with the Resolution

The event happened in 1915. For the United States to ask for a resolution now over something that happened in 1915 is stirring up trouble unnecessarily. Turkey is in the middle of a conflict between religious and secular authority. We don't need to appear as their enemy. We need their cooperation.
Don't get me wrong. If there was genocide, it was a terrible wrong.
Nevertheless, we and others have done a lot of wrongs in the years since 1915. I would like to see a resolution condemning the mess we have created in Iraq, for instance. Don't think it's going to happen.
Let's move on. Look around at what is happening today. Can't we find anything to condemn?

[Happy Hippy]

14. Yes, let's just ignore the genocide of Amenians

many of which were babies, women, and children. That sound's very progressive. Armenian Americans really want this, it means a lot to them.

[Boojatta]

21. Is teaching pre-1915 history in public schools stirring up trouble?

[AllentownJake]

22. The world started in 1981 when Ronald Reagan was sworn in

and defeated the Soviet Union by staring them down and waving an American Flag on top of the Statue of Liberty.

anything before that period is like talking about dinosaurs.

[RedCloud]

17. Cook Turkey in Greece and drink Canada Dry!

[JCMach1]

20. Maybe it was time Obama took a trip to the Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial

Our country and history ignores the death of about 1million people at its peril.







The last pic is of our guide in Armenia. Of his father's family, only 2 small brothers survived out of a family of 8 and ended-up in the refuge camps in Lebanon. After the fall of the Soviet Union, they moved back to Armenia.