France’s Big Christmas Turkey

Everybody admits that a whole lot of Armenians died in and around 1915 at the hands of the Ottoman Empire (today’s Turkey), but while Armenians call it genocide, Turkey still claims it was self-defense against an internal enemy during wartime (WWI): “The key issue in this controversy is not the extent of Armenian suffering; both sides agree that several hundred thousand Christians [Armenians suggest more like 1.5 million] perished during the deportation of the Armenians from Anatolia to the Syrian desert and elsewhere in 1915-16. With little notice, the Ottoman government forced men, women, and children from their homes. Many died of starvation or disease during a harrowing trek over mountains and through deserts. Others were murdered… Historians do not dispute these events although they may squabble over numbers and circumstances. Rather the key question in the debate concerns premeditation. Did the Young Turk regime organize the massacres that took place in 1916?...

“Most Turks say Armenians died during inter-communal fighting and during a wartime relocation necessitated by security concerns because the Armenians sympathized with and many fought on the side of the enemy.” Middle East Quarterly, Fall 2005. Whatever it was, it was horrible and inexcusable, but all Armenians and a large segment of the international community simply want Turkey to admit that it sanctioned and committed genocide, and as a point of contemporary Turkish pride – in the midst of growing anti-Western feelings in this mostly Muslim nation – Turkey is equally committed to denying that such a genocide ever took place.

Armenians everywhere – and they are a widely dispersed diaspora who have faced almost continuous persecution somewhere – have crusaded for decades for recognition of the horrors they suffered almost a century ago. Though the bill did not make it into law, even the US Congress entertained a resolution to this effect (calling the mass killings “genocide”) last March. Minutes after a Senate committee approved the resolution, Turkey withdrew its ambassador to the United States.

The same thing happened recently as Israel, with an obviously heightened sensitivity to genocide in general based on the Holocaust, allowed an open and televised debate over recognizing the Armenian genocide under its parliamentary education committee; Turkey promptly withdrew its ambassador: “At [the televised] hearing, some advocates of commemorating the massacre said their efforts had nothing to do with politics or with the Turkey of today. Rather, they said, the goal was to educate young Israelis about genocide and publicly assert the need to prevent such acts.

“But officials from the Foreign Ministry said relations with Turkey were fragile and that passing such a resolution could have bad strategic consequences… After Israel invaded Gaza three years ago to stop rocket fire by Palestinian militants, Turkey expressed anger. A year and a half ago, the Israeli navy stopped a Turkish-sponsored flotilla from going to Gaza, killing nine activists aboard. Turkey demanded an apology and compensation. When Israel refused, ties were downgraded.” New York Times, December 26^th. What’s going on here, almost a century after these events occurred? And now this cause célèbre is raging through France?

Although only 3% of Turkey is actually in Europe – that thin sliver of land on the other side of the Bosporus (the rest is technically Asia) – Turkey had been up for membership in the European Union, although today, such a prospect may not be so attractive given the decline of EU fortunes of late and the offsetting economic growth in Turkey. The French have opposed the addition of Turkey to the EU, and President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has very strong support among French Armenians, has gone on record to support pending legislation in the French Parliament that would make it a crime to deny the Armenian “genocide.” Turkey is outraged.

“Turkish lawmakers joined to denounce the bill and called on France to investigate its own atrocities in Algeria and Rwanda. [Turkey’s] Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the bill violated the spirit of the French Revolution and European principles like freedom of speech. [Turkish Prime Minister Recep] Erdogan said he had recalled Turkey’s ambassador and canceled the annually issued permission for French military planes to use Turkish airspace and French naval vessels to enter Turkish harbors. The move means that French military planes will need to apply for permission for each flight. Turkey also refused to cooperate with France in joint European Union projects or participate in a joint economic summit meeting scheduled to take place in Paris in January... ‘Approximately 15 percent of the population in Algeria have been subjected to a massacre by the French starting from 1945,’ Mr. Erdogan said, referring to French rule ending in 1962. ‘This is genocide.’…

“Bernard Valero, the spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry, said that France ‘deplored all the announcements’ made by Mr. Erdogan and regretted the recall of the Turkish ambassador from Paris, and he stressed the need for cooperation on several issues, including the unrest in Syria, the future of Afghanistan and Iran’s nuclear aspirations… ‘We need to handle this current period in a responsible, peaceful and level-headed way,’ Mr. Valero said. ‘We will push for dialogue, not threat.’” New York Times, December 23^rd. Needless to say, these fighting words have rubbed massive salt in old, but still festering wounds.

I’m Peter Dekom, and understanding how deep history cuts for some people is a lesson for all Americans, even for those who truly fail to appreciate the impact on the past on our own present.