British justice minister tells Erdoğan ’genocide’ bill will not pass
ISTANBUL — Daily News with wires
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
British Justice Minister Jack Straw on Tuesday assured Turkey's prime minister
that Parliament would not pass a resolution recognizing the Ottoman-era killings
of Armenians as "genocide," CNNTürk reported.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was in London on an official visit
Tuesday, during which he was scheduled to meet with British Prime Minister
Gordon Brown.
"The chance of this becoming law is zero," Straw said, according to CNNTürk's
Web site. "I can assure everyone on this issue."
After the Swedish parliament adopted an Armenian "genocide" resolution last
week, many have turned their attention to the British Parliament, where a draft
will be submitted to a House of Commons committee after a second reading on
April 30.
If it is approved, an “Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day” will be established
in the country.
"The English government and the opposition do not support this draft," Straw said.
The British committee is scheduled to hold its last evaluation in late March; the first
reading of the draft was made Jan. 6. A similar draft will follow the same process
in the British House of Lords.
Armenians claim 1.5 million of their kin were massacred in 1915 at the hands
of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey rejects these claims and says many people on both
sides were killed during a period of civil strife.
From The Times
March 18, 2010
Uncomfortable Truth
Turkish threats to expel Armenian migrants to make a political point are
shameful
Deportations have powerful symbolism in modern European history. The notion that
the government of a would-be member state of the EU might propose the forced
collective expulsion from its territory of a specified nationality ought to be unthinkable.
Yet that course was casually threatened yesterday by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the
Turkish Prime Minister, against 100,000 Armenian migrants.
Its purported justification was the recent passage of non-binding resolutions in the
US Congress and the Swedish parliament. These motions describe as genocide
the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during and after the First
World War. Turkey takes strong issue with the claim of genocide. The history and
politics of TurkishArmenian relations are convoluted, but the ethics of Mr Erdogan’s
remarks are not. His intervention is demagogic and disreputable.
The US and Swedish votes were carried by narrow margins and were opposed by
their respective governments. The historical events that they recall began with the
massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915. The very word “genocide”
is a post-1945 coinage, intended to define the peculiar barbarity of Nazism. Only
gradually did the Armenian massacres come to be recognised as the first authentic
case of genocide in the 20th century. But so they were. On conservative historical
estimates, around a million Armenians were killed in a xenophobic purge that
continued till 1923. It was a crime without precedent in modern history.
Historical truth matters. It is extraordinary that the Government of modern Turkey
should resist it. No one alive today was responsible for these barbarities. They
were committed by an imperial power that has long since passed into history along
with Wilhelmine Germany, to which it was allied in the First World War. While running
for the presidency, Barack Obama declared his intention of being a leader who would
speak the truth about the Armenian genocide. In practice, while his views are a matter
of record, Mr Obama has been conciliatory in relations with Turkey.
Mr Erdogan has little cause for complaint about the symbolic diplomacy of resolutions
on historical events. He has no justification whatever for threats against Armenian
migrants. Turkey is home to thousands of illegal immigrants from Armenia. Few would
dispute that sovereign nations have the right to determine barriers to entry on the part
of non-citizens, but these are migrants who have sought refuge from disaster. Forming
an impoverished population that does necessary but low-wage work, they include many
whose homes and livelihoods were destroyed in the Armenian earthquake of 1988.
Mr Erdogan estimated yesterday that of 170,000 Armenians in Turkey, only 70,000 held
Turkish citizenship. He threatened directly to tell the rest to leave.
Turkey is a member state of Nato and a strategically important power within the Western
alliance. It borders Iraq, in whose stability the Western democracies have an intense
interest. But the Government in Ankara cannot exploit that status in order to advance
its own diplomatic goals at the expense of liberal values. To object to a proper historical
accounting of awesome crimes is a demeaning and destructive stance. But then to
retaliate against the most vulnerable people within Turkey’s borders is unconscionable.
Comments on Times website:
adir yoruk wrote:
One day INDEPENDANT historians will put this so called 'genocide' accusation right
through the UN, and the finger waving hand slapping western peoples will shut up and
move onto their next victim, hopefully it will be against those that have done us much
harm, for example the bulgarians who took my grandfathers(both parents by the way
and my wifes grandparents) land, home and expelled us from bulgaria, or my uncles
wifes parents who suffered a simalar fate at the hands of the greeks, or my dads best
friend from the crimea or my best friends parents from macedonia, or my other uncles
wife from bosnia, who all live in turkey in safety now thankfully. Or perhaps the hundreds
of thousands turkish cypriots who now live away from their lands UK=350,000,
USA=250,000,Australia=100,000,Canada 100,000 all kicked out quite recently(1950's
onwards) by greek cypriots with the help from their western allies, of course most now
have been away for so long that they have no real ties with cyprus(well done to all the
nations mentioned above,well played)nor do they have cypriot citizenship anymore.
But then again who cares what happens to turks right,they should all pack up and go
back to central asia, they had 1000 years now among you guys and only ever caused
you trouble,so bye bye im off to pack my bags(once again).
March 19, 2010 1:46 AM GMT on community.timesonline.co.uk
Recommend? Report Abuse Permalink
M B wrote:
How about this idea: The European Union suggests that it may consider transfering
Turkey's E.U. candidate status to Armenia.
Regardless of what happens it is clear that Turkey has a LONG way to go before EU
membership should even remotely be an option. There are an incredible myraid of
reasons not to admit Turkey in the near future. Maybe in several decades the issue
can be re-examined.
It is clear that Turkey is still an adversary of Armenia (and Cyprus). The EU was very
wise to admit Cyprus to join well before Turkey.
Also, I hope that the members of the Swedish parliament warn the Prime Minister not
to insult them in a way desired by a genocide denying head of state.
March 18, 2010 4:54 PM GMT on community.timesonline.co.uk
Recommend? (6) Report Abuse Permalink
Eva Wright wrote:
Lot of selective memory from the people who comment. I seem to remember that you
Brits are only too keen to deport illegal immigrants. The US is also conspicuous by their
genocide of their native Indian population (even after signing a peace treaty with them).
Not satisfied, they went on a few years later, and took a similar approach in the
Philippines. I’m a great advocate of Turkey becoming an EU member. Unlike France
they are a loyal NATO member, and far less trouble. The current “Islamic” government
has done more to bring Turkish laws into line with “EU standards”, and more to create
a stable economy, than most previous “non-Islamic” governments. So let’s give them
a kick were it hurts, encourage them to join the extremist camp, but don’t be surprised
if their sons leave nasty deposits on your doorstep.
March 18, 2010 4:28 PM GMT on community.timesonline.co.uk
Recommend? (1) Report Abuse Permalink
sharif Lone wrote:
Erdogen's threats are not only shameful, but primitive. Many countries dispatch illegal
migrants away, but Turkey is doing it to make a point about genocide of Armenians in
early 290th century.
I think if Germany's Chancellor Merkel did the same to Turks living in Germany, Erdogen
will try blackmailing Germany also. I have no trust in governments which are voted to
encourage religious feelings against others.
March 18, 2010 2:31 PM GMT on community.timesonline.co.uk
Recommend? (6) Report Abuse Permalink
Fati Raster wrote:
See the New York Times for recent articles giving us the latest developments in Turkey.
The power of army as a political force is broken, this Islamist government has also hit
at critics of its views. Turkey is travelling to the Islamic right, the one force that could have
stopped this is now longer able to do so.
Turkey is a real worry, why our political caste want to invite it into the EU is a nighmarish
puzzle. This is a state ceasing to be 'secular' by the day.
March 18, 2010 2:22 PM GMT on community.timesonline.co.uk
Recommend? (6) Report Abuse Permalink
W Gladstone wrote:
@Keith Welton
No Sir, you are missing the point. Turkish membership of the Eu will not be used to justify
the membership of the countries you list. Rather, it is intended to provide justification for
the fast-tracked admission of Israel as a "counter-weight" member and, of course, a near
Middle-East neighbour of an EU State.
March 18, 2010 11:15 AM GMT on community.timesonline.co.uk
Recommend? Report Abuse Permalink
Seto Boyadjian wrote:
Mr. Erdogan’s threat to deport Armenians from Turkey in retaliation for Armenian Genocide
recognition resolutions is indeed “shameful,” as the Times courageously asserts. Turkey,
our NATO ally and strategic partner, is exploiting our partnership without sharing our values.
It is sad that Mr. Erdogan is resorting to tactics reminiscent of Ottoman Turkey, which carried
out the first genocide of the twentieth century against its helpless Armenian population. The
Ottoman Turkish Interior Minister Mehmet Talaat uttered the same threats in 1914 when
European countries decided to implement the promised reforms to ameliorate conditions
for Armenians living within the Ottoman Empire. To end European initiatives, Mr. Talaat and
his Young Turk government decided, planned and implemented the mass deportation and
extermination of their Armenian subjects. As a result, Western Armenia was depopulated
and more than 1.5 Armenians slaughtered. Before Mr. Talaat and the Young Turks, in 1892
the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid pursued the same objective of ending European reforms
by massacring and deporting his Armenian subjects in such major cities as Adana. As a
result, more than 200,000 Armenians were massacred.
Apparently, Mr. Erdogan is bent on following in the footsteps and his grandfathers. Just like
Mehmet Talaat and Sultan Abdul Hamid, he is telling Western world stop recognizing the
Armenian Genocide or else Armenians will be deported … again.
Erdogan seems to justify the old saying “like father, like son.” But in his case it would be
more accurate to say “like father, like grandson.”
Seto Boyadjian
Attorney at Law
Pasadena, California USA
March 18, 2010 7:40 AM GMT on community.timesonline.co.uk
Recommend? (12) Report Abuse Permalink
Anthony Anders wrote:
Even more shockingly, Der Spiegel reports that Turkey recently invited well-placed
members of the Turkish diaspora throughout Europe to an all-expenses paid summit
in Turkey, then told them to "inoculate European culture with Turkish culture."
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,684125,00.html
European citizens of Turkish descent were expected to become agents working on behalf
of the Turkish government's foreign policy goals.
How much more evidence do we need that Turkey is not fit to be a member of the
European Union? Why is there a total consensus among our major political parties that it
should be allowed in?
March 18, 2010 2:21 AM GMT on community.timesonline.co.uk
Recommend? (16) Report Abuse Permalink
Keith Welton wrote:
And many politicians want Turkey to be allowed into the EU. What next? Syria, Iraq, Iran?
Brussels - Stockholm - March 11, 2010 - Spearheaded by a Swedish MP from the left party, Mr. Hans Linde, the Swedish Parliament adopted on 
The Economist, March 11 2010 - Not for the first time, Armenians sense a moment of vindication in their struggle for the acknowledgement of the tragedy that befell their forebears during the first World War. Turkey is angry. And America's administration is straining to limit the damage.
Yesterday I watched the video clip of
"In 1915 the Turkish Government began and ruthlessly carried out the infamous general massacre and deportation of Armenians in Asia Minor. Three or four hundred thousand men, women, and children escaped into Russian territory and others into Persia or Mesopotamia; but the clearance of the race from Asia Minor was about as complete as such an act, on a scale so great, could well be… . There is no reasonable doubt that this crime was planned and executed for political reasons. The opportunity presented itself for clearing Turkish soil of a Christian race!"
be held every Friday at 7:40 am. 
