By Haaretz Service
Pro-Israel activists manipulated Congress to damage Turkey, says London daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi.
Jewish lobbyists contrived a U.S. congressional vote that labeled the World War One-era massacre of Armenians by Turkish forces as genocide, a London-based Arabic-language newspaper claimed on Saturday.
Pro-Israel lobbyists had previously backed Turkey on the issue ? but changed tack in retaliation for Turkish condemnation of Israel's policies in the Gaza Strip, the Al-Quds Al-Arabi daily said in an editorial, according to Israel Radio reports.
| A crisis in diplomatic relations came to a head in January when when Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon publicly humiliated Turkey's ambassador in front of press cameras. In his leading article, Al-Quds Al-Arabi editor Abd al-Bari Atwan curged Erdogan not to give in to the Jewish lobby's "extortion" tactics. Erdogan on Thursday recalled Turkey's ambassador to Washington after the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee voted 23-22 to approve the non-binding resolution, clearing it for consideration by the full House. The measure could harm Turkish-U.S. ties and efforts by Muslim Turkey and Christian Armenia to end a century of hostility, Erdogan said. Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said the vote was a boost for human rights. The vote calls on President Barack Obama to ensure U.S. policy formally refers to the massacre as genocide, putting him in a tight spot. In a telephone call with Turkish President Abdullah Gul on Wednesday, Obama emphasized his administration had urged lawmakers to consider the potential damage to efforts to normalize Armenian-Turkish ties, a senior administration official said. At a news conference in Costa Rica on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she and Obama, who both supported proposed Armenia genocide resolutions as presidential candidates, had changed their minds because they believed the drive to normalize relations between Turkey and Armenia was bearing fruit. Turkey, a Muslim secular democracy that plays a vital role for U.S. interests from Iraq to Iran and in Afghanistan and the Middle East, accepts that many Armenians were killed by Ottoman forces but denies that up to 1.5 million died and that it amounted to genocide - a term employed by many Western historians and some foreign parliaments. Turkey regards such accusations as an affront to its national honor. Note: "plays a vital role for U.S. interests.....". How? If I remember correctly, Turkey refused to allow troops to cross into Iraq from the Turkey border, at the beginning of the Iraqi war, under the Bush administration. If I remember correctly, Turkey refused to allow Israel to fly over Turkey's air space last summer, during training exercises between the United States and Israel. If I remember correctly, it was months later when Turkey felt that Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon publicly humiliated Turkey's ambassador in front of press cameras. Too bad it took so long to "humilate" Turkey's actions toward the democratic State of Israel!! It seems Turkey is "humiliated", soft-skinned, and considers itself to be above retribution and laws of justice - sounds like Islamic attitude, if you ask me and we all know that it doesn't take much to offend Islam. Perhaps the United States needs to examine who among nations are friends and who are the real foes of America. BeeSting |
