TURKEY HITS BACK AT US OVER GENOCIDE LABEL

By Vincent Boland in Ankara, Demetri Sevastopulo in London
and Daniel Dombey in Washington
Financial Times, UK Oct 11 2007

Turkey reacted angrily on Thursday to a US congressional vote that labelled the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide, amid warnings that the issue could mark a turning point in relations between Washington and Ankara and place in jeopardy US troops in Iraq.

The non-binding resolution was adopted by the House of Representatives foreign affairs committee in a 27-21 vote on Wednesday. It is set to go to the full House in coming weeks despite intense oppositionf rom Turkey and the White House, which fears the measure will further damage an already strained relationship with Ankara and put US troops in Iraq in greater danger.

"It is not possible to accept such an accusation of a crime which was never committed by the Turkish nation," the Turkish government said.

"It is blatantly obvious that the House committee on foreign affairs does not have a task or function to rewrite history by distorting a matter which specifically concerns the common history of Turks and Armenians.

"Turkey accepts that hundreds of thousands of Ottoman Armenians were killed from 1915 to 1917, as the empire collapsed and before the republic of Turkey was created. But it rejects the idea of genocide and insists that the victims died because of war, hunger and displacement.

Several countries have endorsed the genocide verdict but for the US to be on the brink of doing so - as seems likely if the House votes on it - is especially dismaying to many Turks.

Some see it as a symbol of a growing disengagement between two military allies who enjoyed a long and largely pragmatic relationship until theUS invasion of Iraq. "When we look back in 20 years we might see this as a milestone in the way Turkey and the US have drifted apart," said Suat Kiniklioglu, an MP for the ruling Justice and Development party.

Others say Turkey has backed itself irrevocably into a corner on the Armenian issue by refusing to engage with its critics and by silencing domestic debate. Cengiz Aktar, an academic and commentator in Istanbul, said: "Turkey has made this a question of honour but it has no other policy. We were more flexible on this issue 20 years ago than we are today.

"The House resolution comes at a delicate time in US-Turkish relations. The Turkish parliament is expected next week to approve a military operation into northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish PKK separatist rebels based there who have staged bloody attacks inside Turkey in recent weeks. Such a move is fiercely opposed by the US, which fears that Iraq's most stable region could be engulfed in anew conflict.

Such an authorisation may not be acted on immediately but the Turkish authorities appear determined to rout the PKK in the face of a wave of public outrage over recent killings of civilians and soldiers.

"The prime minister feels that our policy of restraint [on the PKK] has to end," Mr Kiniklioglu said.

But threats of retaliation against the US if the House adopted the resolution, made by some Turkish politicians, may be premature.

Several diplomats pointed out that the US administration and much of its foreign policy establishment took Ankara's side in opposing the resolution, a fact that could influence any official Turkish response.

Robert Gates, US defence secretary, said there could be "enormous present-day implications" for US operations in Iraq if Turkey took retaliatory action. Nicholas Burns, under secretary of state, said the administration would contact the Turkish government to convey its "deep disappointment" at adoption of the resolution and to offer "a message of support and the hope that we can continue to work together with them".

Turkish FM: "We must learn lessons from the Holocaust"
EJP Updated: 12/Oct/2007 13:10
JERUSALEM (EJP)---When he signed the guest book of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem during his visit earlier this week,Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan wrote: "This museum reminds us all the heart-breaking memories of the Holocaust. We must learn lessons from the Holocaust; the way the evil took hold, the insidious appeal of its ideology, co-option of many apparently respectable people.

If we understand the danger of fight against evil doctrines, to scapegoat, despise and dehumanize any religion and people, our children will certainly live in a better world. Genocide, ethnic cleansing, racism, anti-Semitism, Islam-phobia, Christian-phobia, xenophobia, all historical yet contemporary evils that the international community shares a solemn responsibility to combat.

On behalf of the Turkish people and the Turkish Government, I want to express our reverence for the victims of the immeasurable evil. Blessed be their memory."