Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

Turkish Offer of Dialogue on Genocide - A Gesture of Goodwill or a Trap?
by Harut Sassounian - California Courier - November 09, 2000
Posted: Sunday, November 12, 2000 07:59 pm CST

For 85 years, the Turkish government has had no interest in discussing the Armenian Genocide with Armenians. All of a sudden, Turkish officials have developed a keen interest in this subject and are displaying an unusual eagerness to look into the matter. One wonders why?

The most obvious reason is the consideration of the Armenian Genocide Resolution by the U.S. House of Representatives last month. The Turkish government had issued all sorts of threats from shutting down its NATO Air Force base to canceling multi-billion dollar contracts for the purchase of U.S. military hardware. It paid $1.8 million to three former Congressmen to lobby against this Resolution. The White House, the State and Defense Departments, the CIA, dozens of major U.S. corporations, and scores of conservative House members tried to stop the Genocide Resolution. Nothing worked. Despite all of these incredible efforts, the majority of House Members remained steadfast in their determination to vote in favor of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Only a last minute intervention by Speaker Hastert, at the behest of Pres. Clinton, saved the Turks from defeat! As various Turkish columnists pointed out, American officials who opposed this Resolution did not dispute the facts of the Armenian Genocide. They were simply expressing their concern for the political, economic, and military consequences of such a recognition. The Turkish government was concerned that should Washington alter its assessment of the strategic value of Turkey, all U.S. objections to the adoption of a similar Resolution in the future would be dropped.

Furthermore, Speaker Hastert issued a clear warning to Turkey that unless it resolves this "dispute" with Armenia, he would have no choice but to bring this issue up again in the next Congress. Pres. Clinton and other American officials have also urged both Turks and Armenians to hold a dialogue on the Armenian Genocide.

The Turks wisely concluded that unless they embark on a new initiative, the Armenian Genocide would continue to haunt them not only in the U.S., but also in many other countries. The Turkish Parliament announced last week that a special council of Turkish historians would be formed with the participation of Armenian historians to study the facts of the Armenian Genocide. It is clear that the newly created Turkish interest in this subject is not motivated by a search for the truth. It is rather intended to do damage control. Under the guise of historical research, the Turks are trying to resolve their political and public relations problems with the rest of the world.

Even though Armenians have the truth on their side, they are not as politically sophisticated as the Turks. Last week, at the Armenian Academy of Sciences, a group of Armenian historians met to discuss the merits of a possible invitation by the Turkish Parliament to study the facts of the Armenian Genocide. I was asked to participate in this meeting and express my opinion.

I told the gathered Armenian historians that it was premature to pronounce judgment on the Turkish initiative for dialogue, as they had not yet received a formal invitation. I cautioned them not to fall in the Turkish trap of trying to prove that the Genocide really happened. Armenians do not need to provide any further evidence about the truth of the Genocide. There is no dispute about the historical facts. The problem is that the Turks are exerting political pressure to deny these facts. If Nazi Germany had won the war, it would have also not allowed anyone to speak about the Jewish Holocaust!

The majority of the House members had no shortage of knowledge about the basic facts of the Armenian Genocide. The Resolution was pulled not because of a lack of documents, but because of political pressure. Rather than accumulating more documents, Armenians need to concentrate on accumulating more political power. Furthermore, there is a clear danger in joining such a Turkish initiative. The Turks' real intent is to prevent the consideration of the Armenian Genocide by the U.S. Congress and the parliaments of other countries using the excuse that political bodies should not deal with this issue as long as historians have not completed their research. Of course, I am not opposed to historical research. Even though the whole world knows what took place in 1915, there remain many details to be uncovered. For similar reasons, there are scores of historians who are still doing research on various aspects of the Jewish Holocaust. Armenian historians, however, do not need an invitation from the Turkish Parliament to study the Armenian Genocide. They can collaborate with Turkish historians of their choice, but they gain nothing by joining the propagandists working for the Turkish government. If the Turkish government wants to have a true dialogue with Armenians, I suggest that the first item on the agenda be the compensation by Turkey for the consequences of the Armenian Genocide!

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