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The Truth that No One Wants to Admit About TARC
The Armenian contingent of the Turkish Armenian Reconciliation Commission (TARC) is represented by the Armenian Assembly of America (AAA), in conjunction with members and former administration officials of the infamous Armenian National Movement (ANM).
In an August 2 statement made by the Armenian members of TARC, its members claim that "from around the world, most Armenians have offered support, both publicly and privately. They share with us the belief that if Armenians and Turks talk directly and in a structured fashion, addressing the numerous issues that divide us, some progress may follow."
I do not recall any public statements made by Armenian organizations or political groups in Armenia or the Diaspora showing their direct support for such dialogue, with the exception of the AAA and the Armenian Council of America, the political wing of the Social Democrat Hunchak Party of the US--an organization that has evidently severed all links to its revolutionary past and original mission or purpose--which merely supports the initiative with "cautious optimism."
The ARF Bureau released a strong statement of disapproval on July 13, and on July 31, eight political parties and deputy groups in Armenia, including the National Democratic Union, Communist Party, Republican Party, Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Constitutional Right Union, Country of Laws party, and deputy groups People's Deputy and Agroindustrial People's Union, released a statement condemning the commission.
The term "most Armenians" in and of itself is as misleading as it is a distortion of the truth; no evidence can verify its validity. This rhetorical statement by TARC is further proof why this commission and its advocates, primarily members of the AAA and the ANM, cannot be trusted to speak in the name of the Armenian people in any form of dialogue with any nation, let alone Turkey.
Make no mistake that the AAA is an organization closely aligned with the US State Department, which means that it is more closely aligned with the interests of the US administration than those of Armenia and the Armenian people. As the United States and Turkey are NATO members and strong military allies, the United States has vested interests in Turkey.
Moreover, US oil companies have strong interests in the Caspian Sea and want to appease Azerbaijan in all ways possible to tap into its oil resources. The State Department has no viable interest in Armenia--it has no interest in Armenian Genocide recognition, restitution, and restoration of Armenian territories occupied by Turkey, or the dispute of Nagorno Karabagh.
In short, the State Department has no compassion for the Armenian Cause. It will try to use Armenia and naïve Armenian-Americans, like the AAA and its supporters, to achieve its goals of destabilizing Russia's influence in the Caucasus and tapping into the oil reserves of the Caspian, which brings us to the establishment of TARC and the US support of such meaningless dialogue.
The State Department needs TARC to try to convince the Armenian community to be "reasonable" and allow for concessions on issues such as the Armenian Genocide and the self-determination of Nagorno Karabagh in order to open the borders between Turkey and Armenia. The United States wants to build oil pipelines in the region and will not do so as long as the region faces the possibility of a renewal of war. If the State Department has the approval of the Armenian-American community, which it perceives as being led by the AAA, and TARC, it can somehow broker a deal to include making concessions on Armenian lands and stalling continued attempts in convincing the Turkish government to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide by having the blockade on Armenia lifted.
The AAA is an organization comprising Armenian-Americans that represent the established and elite or those that want to be associated with the established and elite. It does not serve the direct interests of the common Armenian people in Armenia or in the Armenian Diaspora.
The AAA exists to support Armenia and Armenian-American issues only if its members can benefit in financial, personal, or social status terms. It does not care about socio-economic concerns facing the Armenian people in the homeland--this fact is clearly evident. Note that the Assembly does not directly support the self-determination and national integrity of Nagorno Karabagh and the right to maintaining and developing the liberated territories. Moreover, it does not want to advocate recognition of the Armenian Genocide in a political forum and does not advocate restitution, reparations, and return of historic Armenian territories to the Republic of Armenia, but merely advocates "affirmation" of the Genocide.
The Armenian Genocide is important for the Assembly to be recognized as a historic event by the US government, but only to be recognized and then placed in a museum, eventually to be forgotten as another tragic event in the history of the world.
TARC exists because wealthy Armenians in the United States and Armenia want to make money, and they feel that they can do so not only in Armenia but in Turkey as well. If the Turkish blockade on Armenia is lifted, transport barriers to and from Armenia would be eradicated. Armenian-American investors can then move in and establish tourism enterprises and other capital-generating institutions. But is the integrity of the Armenian people worth such a sacrifice for a few to earn millions of dollars? What about the historic lands of the Armenian people--are they to be sacrificed for the sake of American capitalism? What about the 1.5 million souls that died for their land, culture, and heritage? What about the thousands more that died defending and preserving the homeland?
The Armenian people in the homeland are suffering. They are jobless,
hungry, and desolate. They need employment in order to live. Why don't
established and elite Armenian-Americans invest directly in Armenia and
build factories and industries there to employ hundreds of thousands of
Armenians willing to work? By all means, let the elite make its
millions, but at least put the Armenian people to work in order to do
so. Why try to strike cheap deals with Turkey in the name of
reconciliation for the same purpose--do we really need Turkey? Note
that the countries that traded with freely with Turkey, namely Georgia
and Azerbaijan, are actually in worse economic conditions than Armenia.
Armenia lasted 10 years in its current social-economic condition
without economically unstable Turkey; it can certainly last 10 more
with the Armenian Diaspora's direct financial investment in the people
of Armenia. The Armenian people must continue to struggle in the name
of social justice, freedom, and democracy, and they should not succumb
to the sweet but deceptive words of a few opportunists.
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