Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

Armenians Should Use Diplomatic Guerrilla Tactics to Counter Turks
by Harut Sassounian - California Courier Online - December 14, 2000
Posted: Thursday, December 14, 2000 07:30 pm CST

Commentary - California Courier Publisher

What do you do when you don't get your way? If you are a spoiled brat or a bully, you yell and scream, throw temper tantrums, and start threatening everyone around you.

In the absence of any evidence to prove its position, this is the irrational approach that the Turkish government has adopted in recent years to scare off other countries from recognizing the Armenian Genocide. Two months ago, Ankara succeeded in forcing Pres. Clinton and Speaker Dennis Hastert to withdraw the Congressional Resolution on the Armenian Genocide, minutes before it was to be voted on in the House of Representatives.

Not everyone, however, was scared off by such tactics. Last month, the French Senate, the European Parliament, the Pope and the Italian Parliament called the Turkish bluff and courageously recognized the Armenian Genocide. Ironically, the Turkish threats managed to intimidate the world's most powerful country--the United States, but not the Vatican which is protected by nothing more than a few Swiss guards!

I hope the U.S. government took notice of the fact that Turkey did not carry out any of its threatened actions against these countries. It did not cancel lucrative arms deals with France or Italy. It did not suspend its diplomatic relations with them. It did not even temporarily recall its ambassadors from these countries as a gesture of diplomatic protest. The Turkish press barked angrily for a few days. That's all!

Encouraged by the successes of their kinsmen in Europe, Armenians in Iran, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina announced plans for similar initiatives in their respective parliaments. Furthermore, the French parliament is expected to take up the Genocide issue next month, following its recent recognition by the French Senate.

Armenians have to be careful, however, not to tip their hand prematurely. The minute the Turks get wind of such an initiative being planned anywhere in the world, the ever-watchful Turkish diplomatic corps is quick to go into action in order to stop it dead in its tracks!

Last week, for example, the word got out that the Uruguayan Parliament, following a similar action by the country's Senate, was going to consider recognizing the Armenian Genocide. Turkey's ambassador in Argentina, Erhan Yighitbash, who also represents his country in Uruguay, immediately flew from Buenos Aires to Montevideo to warn off Uruguayan officials, "Milliyet" reported.

To prevent Turkey from undermining the efforts for the recognition of the Genocide, Armenian community leaders should refrain from making premature public announcements. I don't know why an Armenian member of the Iranian Parliament recently disclosed, six months in advance, his intention to introduce such a motion to recognize the Armenian Genocide, next April. The Turks and the Azeris immediately reacted by raising a storm of protests, thereby diminishing the chances of this initiative's eventual passage.

Armenia's Consul General in Sao Paulo, Ashot Yeghiazarian, made a similarly unhelpful announcement earlier this month. He stated that the Armenian "Consulate is conducting work on getting the Armenian Genocide recognized by the Brazilian Congress," Armenpress reported. I am sure, by now, the local Turkish ambassador has taken all necessary measures to ensure that the government of Brazil would oppose the enactment of such a measure. Furthermore, the Consul General's words directly contradict the Armenian Foreign Minister's assurances that Armenia is not involved in these efforts, and that these initiatives are undertaken by Armenians overseas as citizens of their respective countries.

Catching the Turks by surprise is an important element in assuring the the success of such legislative initiatives. If Armenians telegraph their intentions in advance, the Turkish government, once alerted, is powerful enough to crush the community's meager attempts.

One of the main reasons why the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert, did not succeed in having the Genocide Resolution adopted by Congress, was that he took three months to schedule a vote after publicly announcing his intention to do so. This gave the Turks ample time to organize and bring to bear pressure on the U.S. government. His leisurely action was the equivalent of waiting for a sleeping beast to wake up, so he can attack you! In 1975, the first time that the Armenian Genocide Resolution was adopted by the House of Representatives, it passed unanimously because the Turks were caught napping!

In order to assure the successful passage of the Genocide Resolution in Congress, Armenians need to adopt one of the following two strategies: surprise the Turks by keeping the plans confidential as long as possible, which means no press releases and no public statements; or submit to Congress simultaneously multiple resolutions on Armenian, Greek, Cypriot and Kurdish issues, making it difficult for the Turks to concentrate their lobbying efforts on any one of them.

It would be even better if Armenians could initiate such measures, at the same time, in a dozen or more countries, in order to further dilute the Turks' ability to mount a concerted counter-attack in any one parliament. This would be the diplomatic equivalent of waging hit-and-run guerrilla warfare.

One of the key reasons why the Armenian Genocide was finally recognized last month by the French Senate, the European Parliament, the Pope and the Italian Parliament was that all four took up this issue within days of each other, frustrating the Turkish Foreign Ministry's efforts to cope with multiple diplomatic fires burning simultaneously in so many capitals!

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