ADL Saga - an enraged Turkey makes the ethically challenged State of Israel capitulate

Ha'aretz, Israel Aug 24 2007 Turkey to Israel: Reverse recognition of genocide By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent The Turkish government is pressuring Israel in an effort to reverse an American Jewish organization's decision to recognize Turkey's massacre of Armenians during World War I as genocide. A meeting between Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and Israel's ambassador to Ankara, Pinhas Avivi, became "shrill," according to Foreign Ministry sources in Jerusalem. Gul expressed Ankara's "anger and disappointment" over the matter. On Tuesday, the Anti-Defamation League announced that it recognizes the events in which an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were massacred as "genocide." ADL's national director Abraham Foxman, said he made the decision after discussing the matter with historians and with Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. According to an Israeli ministry source, Gul told the Israeli ambassador that "Turkey knows Israel was not responsible for the Anti-Defamation League's announcement, but is disappointed because Israel could have done something to prevent it." Avivi replied that Jerusalem was not involved in the ADL's decision and that "there is no change in Israel's position. We are not taking sides, and believe that the parties must hold a dialogue to clarify and investigate the matter and determine what really happened." A senior Foreign Ministry official told Haaretz Thursday that the main focus now is on calming the situation. "This is a highly sensitive issue for Turkey, and we have signaled to them that there is no change in our position and that we do not wish to harm the friendly ties between our countries. We believe that they have understood our message," the official said. The question of the Armenian genocide is being handled at the highest levels of the Turkish leadership, and Foreign Ministry sources noted that President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan are planning to discuss the matter with their Israeli counterparts, Shimon Peres and Ehud Olmert. Israel is concerned that the matter may lead to a genuine diplomatic crisis between the two countries, and it has sent quiet signals to American Jewish organizations in an effort to lower the tone. The Foreign Ministry is concerned that the strategic relationship between the two countries could be harmed and that the Jewish community in Turkey could be affected. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ European Jewish Press, Belgium Aug 23 2007 Ankara to foster strategy to counter ADL position on genocide of Armenians Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan might try to engage in phone diplomacy "to convince the Jewish lobby in the US." ANKARA (EJP)---The recognition of the World War I-era killings of Armenians as genocide by the New York-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has shocked Turkey, which is now trying to overcome this by taking compensatory measures, the Turkish Daily News writes Thursday. The ADL is an advocacy group aiming to stop the defamation of the Jewish people. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has told Israeli Ambassador Pinhas Avivi that Turkey is "disappointed" over ADL’s remarks. "We see this statement as an unfortunate one that is unjust to the Holocaust, which has no precedent, and to its victims. And we expect it to be corrected,” the foreign ministry said. The Israeli embassy has released a statement in which it said that there is "no change" in the Israeli government’s stance regarding the issue. Experts and advisors to the Turkish government held a meeting with diplomats at the foreign ministry in Ankara on Wednesday to determine a strategy "that will win back the hearts of Jewish Americans," Turkey’s English daily said. According to diplomatic sources, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan might try to engage in phone diplomacy to convince the Jewish lobby. “The strategy is to convince the ADL first, and if we cannot do that then Turkey will try to counter the Jewish lobby in the U.S. This cannot be a blank acceptance for Turkey,” said a Turkish diplomat. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the ADL’s director Abraham Foxman said that the killings of Armenians by the Turks "were indeed tantamount to genocide,” days after the organisation fired a regional director for taking the same stance. “We were not expecting such a decision. Last week, they fired the director who used [the term ‘genocide’]. What I understood is that after the director was fired, a discussion started in the ADL. We were in contact with the ADL two days ago,“ said an expert on American-Turkish relations quoted by The Turkish Daily News. The decision might negatively influence Jewish votes in the US Congress since there are more than 100 Jewish Americans in the House of Representatives, the expert said. “If they insist on defining the period as genocide, then Turkey will take necessary steps against that. Of course we will not identify the Turkish Jewish community with the American Jewish one. We will also get in contact with Israel to understand the reasons behind the decision,” the source added. Since the Jewish lobby is seen as an important political tool for Turkey’s policies in Washington, Ankara avoids making non-diplomatic statements in reference to the Jews. Ankara fears that the US will recognize the events of 1915-1919 as genocide, and is also concerned about its impact on bilateral relations. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ France24, France Aug 23 2007 Israel's Peres reassures Turkey over ties Israeli President Shimon Peres phoned Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday to assure him of Israel's desire to maintain close ties with its Muslim ally, an aide to Erdogan said. The call followed a decision on Tuesday by a prominent US Jewish group, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), to term as genocide the mass killing of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, a label Ankara fiercely rejects. "Peres emphasized the importance Israel places on relations with Turkey," Erdogan's aide told AFP. "It was a very fruitful discussion." On Wednesday, the Israeli embassy here said the Jewish state acknowledges the "horrible events" and the "terrible suffering" the Armenians endured, but urged Jews not to take sides. "Over the years the subject, undesirably, has become a loaded political issue between the Armenians and the Turks. "Israel, therefore, asks that neither one side nor the other be taken and that no definitions be made of what happened. We hope that both sides will enter into an open dialogue which will enable them to heal the wounds," it said. Turkey has been Israel's main regional ally since 1996 when the two signed a military cooperation deal, much to the anger of Arab countries and Iran. But the US-led war in Iraq and Israel's relations with the Palestinians have led to a rise in anti-US and anti-Israeli sentiment in the Turkish public opinion. Erdogan's Islamist-rooted government also angered Israel in 2006 when it hosted Hamas officials in Ankara in what it defended as a bid to convince the radical Islamist group to renounce violence. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NTV MSNBC, Turkey Aug 23 2007 Turkish Foreign Ministry calls ADL decision baseless On Monday, the ADL said it has shifted its long held position, and now considered the events of 1915 as an act of genocide carried out by the Ottoman Empire against its Armenian citizens. Güncelleme: 11:49 TSÝ 23 Aðustos 2007 Perþembe ANKARA - The decision by the US group the Anti Defamation League (ADL) to acknowledged the so called Armenia genocide had no basis in either history or law, a spokesman for Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said Wednesday. Haberin devamý The definition of the events of 1915 events as genocide was both historically and legally baseless, the spokesman said. `The ADL claimed in its statement that if the word genocide had existed then, the events of 1915 would have been called genocide,' the spokesman said. `The statement also said that a congressional resolution on such matters is a counterproductive diversion and will not foster reconciliation between Turks and Armenians and may put at risk the Turkish Jewish community and the important multilateral relationship between Turkey, Israel and the United States.' The ADL's attempt to rewrite the history is quite contradictory, the spokesman said, and was an insult to the memories of the victims of the Holocaust. The spokesman said Turkey had received no response to an invitation issued to Armenia to establish a joint commission to investigate the issue. [it has but it was not the answer they wanted.] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Today's Zaman, Turkey Aug 24 2007 Turkey, Israel in bid to contain damage after ADL move Turkish officials voiced "deep disappointment" on Thursday over an influential US Jewish group's labeling of the World War I killing of Anatolian Armenians as genocide, stressing that calling the 1915 incidents genocide has neither historical nor legal grounds. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoðan expressed concern over the Anti-Defamation League's move during a phone conversation with his Israeli counterpart, Shimon Peres, Israeli officials said. Erdoðan stressed the "futility" of the organization's decision to call the events as genocide in the conversation and Peres responded saying that Israel's well known position on the issue of genocide claims has not changed. The Israeli prime minister also said Israel attached great importance to relations with Turkey and promised to "advocate Turkey's position on the issue in the US." Separately, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül voiced Ankara's uneasiness and disappointment with the ADL move during a meeting with Israel's outgoing ambassador to Turkey, Pinhas Aviv, who paid a visit to the minister at his office at ministry headquarters on Thursday. Turkish diplomats warned that the ADL statement might have negative impacts on Turkish-Israeli as well as on Turkey-US relations. The New York-based Anti-Defamation League earlier this week reversed its longtime policy by calling the World War I killing of Anatolian Armenians genocide -- a change that comes days after the ADL fired a regional director for taking the same position. ADL Director Abraham Foxman's statement that the killings of Armenians by Muslim Turks "were indeed tantamount to genocide" came after weeks of controversy in which critics questioned whether an organization dedicated to remembering Holocaust victims could remain credible without acknowledging the Armenian killings as genocide. Israeli news reports said yesterday that Turkish Ambassador Namýk Tan was cutting short his holiday in Turkey to return to Israel and express Turkey's concerns over the ADL decision to Israeli officials. But Foreign Ministry officials denied the reports, saying Tan was due to return to work since his vacation ended. Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their kinsmen died in a systematic genocide campaign by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, but Ankara categorically rejects the label, saying that both Armenians and Turks died in civil strife during World War I when the Armenians took up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia and sided with Russian troops invading the crumbling Ottoman Empire. Late on Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Levent Bilman said in a statement that there was no "consensus" among scientists and historians that events of World War I constituted genocide, contrary to the ADL's conviction that there is. "Moreover, it is Turkey who has asked Armenia to establish a joint commission and reveal the historical realities. No positive response has yet been made to thisoffer. The ADL's attempt to rewrite history via a decision it made is constituting a contradiction and its justification cannot beunderstood," Bilman said, referring to the fact that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan sent a letter to Armenian President Robert Kocharian in 2005, inviting him to establish a joint commission of historians and experts from both Turkey and Armenia to study the events of 1915 in the archives of Turkey, Armenia and other relevant countries around the world. Bilman recalled that the decision announced by ADL Director Foxman also emphasized that they "continue to firmly believe that a Congressional resolution on such matters is a counterproductive diversion and will not foster reconciliation between Turks and Armenians and may put at risk the Turkish Jewish community and the important multilateral relationship between Turkey, Israel and the United States." "On the other hand, the Jewish community in our country is a part of our society and there isn't any particularity that they should fear of concerning developments related to the Armenian allegations," Bilman said. "We consider this statement, which also constitutes fairness to the unique position of the Holocaust in the history as well as to memories of its [Holocaust's] victims, as a misfortune and expect it be corrected," he concluded. Meanwhile in Washington, the US administration made clear that its policy on the Armenian issue remained unchanged. "Our policy remains. It's clear. We mourn the victims of the tragic events of 1915 and call on Turks and Armenians to come to terms with the past through candid and heartfelt dialogue. We oppose attempts to make political determinations on the terminology of this tragedy," Gonzalo R. Gallegos, director of the Office of Press Relations at the State Department, told reporters on Wednesday. Ankara doesn't exclude the probability of pressure on the ADL from certain US Congress members. Two separate resolutions are pending in the US Senate and House of Representatives urging the administration to recognize the killings as genocide. Turkey has warned that passage of the resolutions in the US Congress would seriously harm relations with Washington and impair cooperation in Iraq and Afghanistan. The US administration has said it is opposed to the resolution, but the congressional process is an independent one. In his message on April 24, which Armenians claim marks the anniversary of the beginning of a systematic genocide campaign at the hands of the late Ottoman Empire, US President George W. Bush adhered to the administration policy of not referring to the incident as genocide. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ European Jewish Press, Belgium Aug 24 2007 Israeli president reassures Turkish PM over ties AFP and EJP Updated: 24/Aug/2007 11:06 Turkey has been Israel's main regional ally since 1996 when the two signed a military cooperation deal, much to the anger of Arab countries and Iran. Picture: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (L) speaking at a press conference with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a visit in Ankara. ANKARA (AFP-EJP)---Israeli President Shimon Peres phoned Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday to assure him of Israel's desire to maintain close ties with its Muslim ally, an aide to Erdogan said. The call followed a decision on Tuesday by a prominent US Jewish organization, the Anti- Defamation League (ADL), to term as genocide the mass killing of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, a label Ankara fiercely rejects. During the phone conversation, Erdogan expressed concern over the ADL's move. He stressed the "futility" of the organization's decision and Peres responded saying that Israel's well known position on the issue of genocide claims `has not changed.' The Israeli president also said Israel attached great importance to relations with Turkey and promised to "advocate Turkey's position on the issue in the US." Related stories Jewish group chief reverses position, calls Armenian massacre a genocide Turkey's Jews disavow US Jewish organization over Armenian genocide move Ankara to foster strategy to counter ADL position on genocide of Armenians "Peres emphasized the importance Israel places on relations with Turkey," Erdogan's aide told AFP. "It was a very fruitfuldiscussion." Separately, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül voiced Ankara's uneasiness and disappointment with the ADL move during a meeting with Israel's outgoing ambassador to Turkey, Pinhas Aviv, who paid a visit to the minister at his office in Ankara on Thursday. Turkish diplomats have warned that the ADL statement might have negative impacts on Turkish-Israeli as well as on Turkey-US relations. On Wednesday, the Israeli embassy here said the Jewish state acknowledges the "horrible events" and the "terrible suffering" the Armenians endured, but urged Jews not to take sides. "Over the years the subject, undesirably, has become a loaded political issue between the Armenians and the Turks. "Israel, therefore, asks that neither one side nor the other be taken and that no definitions be made of what happened. We hope that both sides will enter into an open dialogue which will enable them to heal the wounds," it said. According to the Israeli press, Turkey's ambassador Namýk Tan cutted short his holiday to return to Israel and express Turkey's concerns over the ADL decision to Israeli officials. Foreign Ministry officials denied the reports, saying Tan was due to return to work since his vacation ended. Main regional ally Turkey has been Israel's main regional ally since 1996 when the two signed a military cooperation deal, much to the anger of Arab countries and Iran. But the US-led war in Iraq and Israel's relations with the Palestinians have led to a rise in anti-US and anti-Israeli sentiment in the Turkish public opinion. Erdogan's Islamist-rooted government also angered Israel in 2006 when it hosted Hamas officials in Ankara in what it defended as a bid to convince the radical Islamist group to renounce violence. Erdogan's AKP party won a landslide victory in the July 22 parliament election. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey Aug 25 2007 ADL corrects `genocide' mistake in letter, Erdoðan says Saturday , 25 August 2007 The US-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) expressed regret over debates centered on its recent decision to recognize Armenian claims of genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in a letter addressing PM Recep Tayyip Erdoðan. Foxman said in his letter that the ADL had huge respect for the Turkish people and has never desired to put the Turkish people and their leaders into a difficult situation, expressing deep regret over what the Turkish people had to go through in the past few days since it agreed to recognize the alleged genocide, reversing a long-held policy, the Anatolia news agency said.Foxman also said the ADL would continue to look for ways to improve relations with Turkey, lamenting the fact that the latest debates strained ties between Turkey and the ADL. "The wrong step that has been taken is corrected," said Erdoðan in subsequent comments to reporters. "They said they shared our sensitivity and expressed the mistake they made. ... They said they will continue to give us all the support they have given so far," he added. In a statement published on its Internet site on Thursday, the ADL said it was ready to support reconciliation efforts between Turks and Armenians after it sent shockwaves through Ankara by recognizing Armenian allegations of genocide earlier this week. Reports in the Turkish media said the move followed a telephone conversation between Erdoðan and Israeli President Shimon Peres on Thursday. Erdoðan stressed the "futility" of the ADL decision to call the events genocide in the conversation and Peres responded by saying that Israel's well-known position on the issue of genocide claims has not changed. The Israeli prime minister also said Israel attached great importance to relations with Turkey and promised to "advocate Turkey's position on the issue in the US." Reports said Peres then called ADL National Director Foxman. "We must encourage steps to create an atmosphere in which Armenia will respond favorably to the several recent overtures of Turkey to convene a joint commission to assist the parties in achieving a resolution of their profound differences. We believe there are many renowned historians, human rights activists and distinguished world leaders who are willing to lend their knowledge, experience and judgment to this cause. We know that earlier this year, Professor Elie Wiesel and more than 50 of his fellow Nobel Laureates called for concrete steps to be taken by Turkey and Armenia to find a way forward to reach the goal of reconciliation, and that, last week, Professor Wiesel reaffirmed his support for efforts to create a body in which both Turkish and Armenian experts can come together to work cooperatively in re-examining the shared past of both peoples. The force and passion of the debate today leaves us more convinced than ever that this issue does not belong in a forum such as the United States Congress," the ADL's Thursday statement said, going on to say: "Although independent scholars may have reached a consensus about the genocide, in an effort to help accomplish the reconciliation there is room for further dispassionate scholarly examination of the details of those dark and terrible days." "ADL and the American Jewish community should focus their attention on supporting efforts to urge Turkey and Armenia to make this happen," the statement added, though it used the g-word, "genocide." Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their kinsmen died in a systematic campaign by the Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, but Ankara categorically rejects the label, saying that both Armenians and Turks died in civil strife during World War I when the Armenians took up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia and sided with Russian troops invading the crumbling Ottoman Empire. According to the Turkish archive documents more than 520.000 civilian Turkish and Kurdish people were massacred by the armed Armenian groups between 1915-1918. Ahead of Erdoðan's conversation with Peres, the Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Levent Bilman said there was no "consensus" among scientists and historians that the World War I events constituted genocide, contrary to the ADL's conviction that there is. "Moreover, it is Turkey who has asked Armenia to establish a joint commission and reveal the historical realities. No positive response has yet been made to this offer," he added. It sparked attention that the ADL referred to the same proposal in its Thursday statement. * Envoy to hold more talks in Israel Meanwhile, Turkey's Ambassador to Israel Namýk Tan, who this week cut short his holiday in Turkey to return to Israel, told the Anatolia news agency yesterday that he would once more voice Turkey's stance on the ADL statement during talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as well as with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, both currently on vacation. Ankara believes that as much as Turkey attributes high importance to its relations with Israel, Israel attributes the same level of importance to its relations with Turkey, Tan said. "These statements do not have any legal and historical grounds. They should be corrected without fail," he added, noting that the statements have not been compatible with Turkey's existing strategic relations with either Israel or the US. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Turkey looks to Israel to influence Jewish lobby Friday, August 24, 2007 Turkey asks Israel to convince the Jewish lobby not to follow in the footsteps of the ADL. PM Erdoðan is expected to call Israel's President Shimon Peres to deal with the issue at the highest level ANKARA - Turkish Daily News In the wake of a prominent American Jewish's group breaking ranks from a long-standing alliance with Turkey over the word "genocide" asa description of massacres of Armenians in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire, Ankara yesterday mobilized to pull Israel more tightly into the symbolic but highly emotional debate. The new turn in the long-debated issue of whether the killing and deportations of Armenians in 1915 amounts to "genocide," came Wednesday when the Anti-Defamation League (ADF) announced a reversal of it's long-held position, which mirrored that of other Jewish groups and the state of Israel, that while a tragedy the circumstances were far different than that of the Nazi-led Holocaust of World War II which is universally regarded as the greatest genocide in history. With the U.S. Congress set to consider a resolution embracing the Armenian claims of genocide -claims that are disputed by many historians and the Turkish government - the ADF move represents a huge potential setback in Ankara's ongoing effort to forestall the diplomatic fallout of a such a resolution. While technically symbolic, the U.S. resolution would follow those passed by similar legislatures around the world that have tipped world interpretation of sensitive historical events toward a version of history deeply offensive to many Turks and their government. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül met with the Israeli Ambassador to Ankara Pinhas Avivi yesterday and expressed Turkey's concerns and expectations from the Israeli government. `It is a great disappointment for us, who gave support to the Jews for centuries. This decision contradicts with the main argument of Jews, which argues that there is nothing worse than the Holocaust. Our bilateral relations will suffer from such a decision,' Gül told Avivi, according to diplomatic sources. Gül said that historians are split on the issue and that Turkey has proposed the establishment of a joint commission by historians, which was rejected by Armenia. He also asked Israel's assistance in blocking similar moves by other Jewish organizations. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan placed an emergency to call Israeli President Shimon Peres late yesterday but the contents of their discussion were not revealed as the Turkish Daily News went to print. Turkey wants to see Israel deal with the issue at the highest level while some diplomats say that Israel's stance on the issue will also be an indicator for the future of our ties. In Istanbul, Israel's Consul General Mordehai Amihai reacted to the ADL news with concern and told the TDN the organization's shift in policy reflects neither the position of Israel nor that of the Jewish community in Turkey: "I hope the Turkish population can make the distinction between the State of Israel, the organization (ADL) and the Jewish population in Turkey." In the meantime, Turkey's ambassador to Tel Aviv, Namýk Tan brokeshort a vacation to Turkey yesterday and rushed back to Israel following the ADL's decision. Israel, Turkey steps in Right after the ADL's decision was made public Wednesday bothTurkish and Israeli ministries made statements. Foreign MinistrySpokesman Levent Bilman, in a written statement, said that there is no consensus among historians about how to define the events of 1915. `The ADL's decision to rewrite history is contradictory and thereason behind it is not understood,' said Bilman. Turkish Jews also criticized the ADL's decision pointing to the historical ties between Turks and Jews. On Wednesday, the community's formal organization issued a statement expressing its dismay. Yesterday, a prominent businessman and member of the community second those comments to the TDN. "Personally, I think what we are witnessing is just an internal skirmish within the ADL itself," said businessman, Marcel Saül. "The decision is wrong, but I don't think it should reflect on the historic solidarity between Turks and Jews on this issue and many others." The Israeli Embassy in Ankara also confirmed that there was no change in their official stance regarding the 1915-1916 incidents, in a written statement made late Wednesday. `The State of Israel has never denied these horrible events; on the contrary, we understand the intensity of the emotion connected with this matter on both sides, considering the high number of victims and terrible suffering which the Armenian people endured,' the statement read. Underlining that this issue became a loaded political issue between the Turks and Armenians the Embassy stated, `The State of Israel, therefore, asks that neither one side nor the other be taken and that no definitions be made of what happened. We hope that both sides will enter into an open dialogue which will enable them to heal the open wounds that have remained for many decades.' After the statements made by the ministry, Israel and Turkish Jews on Wednesday, positive feedback was received from Jews in the U.S., said ministry sources. Turkey annuls the lobby contract Shocked at the ADL's decision, Turkey decided to annul a contract with the lobbying firm DLA Piper and stay with Livingstone firm. The lobby firms are supposed to use their influence on the members of Congress and some other high-level administration officials. DLA Piper is known to be close to the Democrats in the United States.