Turkey categorically denies genocide allegations while describing the events as having taken place during the deportation of Armenians under war conditions. In the past several years, meanwhile, Turkish intellectuals, in particular, began to realize that something should be done to ease the Armenian grievances regarding what took place during World War I under Ottoman rule and thus launched an apology campaign addressing Armenians. Those intellectuals, however, have been branded as something near to traitors for their apology campaign.
Though the current government maintains the state policy of denying the genocide of Armenians, it has, however, initiated a move to normalize relations with neighboring Armenia, culminating in the signing of protocols to this end between the two countries last October. But the protocols have not been ratified by the parliament of either country, while the blame has been put on the Turkish government for not making any effort to have the protocols adopted by its legislative assembly. The Armenian Constitutional Court’s reference to the genocide allegations and Armenian claims on Turkish territory in a verdict that also approved the protocols irked an already sensitive Turkish government as well as the hard-line opposition as Turkey is getting closer to general elections in the first quarter of next year. The possibility of early elections has not been ruled out.
In this ultranationalist Turkish society, no political party will have any chance of winning the hearts and minds of Turks at ballot boxes over normalizing relations with Armenia, as the adoption of resolutions recognizing the Armenian genocide by parliaments of various foreign countries has worsened the situation in the eyes of many Turks.
Most likely encouraged by the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs’ adoption of a resolution on March 4 recognizing the events of 1915 as genocide of Armenians, the Swedish Parliament followed suit last week. The Swedish Parliament voted for the recognition of the mass killings of Armenians and other ethnic groups in 1915 as genocide. This has brought the number of countries around the world that recognize the Armenian genocide to 22.
The British House of Commons is prepared to debate a similar resolution on April 30, while the Armenian diaspora has moved to bring this topic to the agenda of the Spanish Parliament after the regional Catalonian Parliament passed a bill recognizing the events as Armenian genocide.
Turkish diplomats’ fears appear to have come true. Talking to the media recently, senior Turkish diplomats said adoption of a genocide resolution by the full US House of Representatives would have a more negative effect on Turkey than its adoption by other countries.
As Turkey has engaged in a massive diplomatic effort to prevent the resolution from being adopted by the US House of Representatives, even the adoption of the genocide resolution by the Committee on Foreign Affairs has already set an encouraging example for Sweden to be followed by Britain.
But Ankara believes that adoption of such a resolution by the full US House would have a snowball effect, raising the danger that Armenians will initiate legal measures seeking land and compensation from Ankara.
The US administration has given verbal assurances to Ankara that Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives, will not bring the resolution to the floor of the House. Ankara, not satisfied with a verbal assurance, seeks a written pledge from the administration that the issue will not go to the US House of Representatives so that it can send Ambassador Namık Tan back to Washington after recalling him to Ankara for consultations in protest of the US committee’s decision.
The US committee’s adoption of the resolution has, meanwhile, made it difficult and almost impossible for the Turkish Parliament to adopt the protocols signed with Armenia so that relations can be normalized. Turkey has, thus, come close to losing its main trump card against those using the genocide allegations to corner Ankara.
Things would have had been much different for Turkey if it had begun facing its past a long time ago instead of sweeping it under the carpet. Turkey missed that opportunity as the world sees the events of 1915 as genocide of Armenians even if their deportation may not necessarily be labeled genocide. But in the meantime, an increasing number of Turks have begun realizing that bad things happened to Armenians during the year 1915 and onward. This is better than nothing.
