“Jewish Lobby behind U.S. ‘Genocide’ Vote”, Erdogan Slams Vote as 'Parody'

[Marxist]

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Saturday slammed as a "parody" a US Congress panel's resolution branding the killing of Armenians during World War I as "genocide" and warned it would harm countries concerned.

Thursday's approval of the resolution at the US House Foreign Affairs Committee was the product of "erroneous policies" and "will not bind us," Erdogan said in televised remarks. Turkey will "not be deterred by such a comedy, a parody, a fait accompli," he said in a speech to a businessmen's group in Istanbul.

"Let me say quite clearly that this resolution will not harm us. But it will damage bilateral relations between countries, their interests and their visions for the future. We will not be the losers," he added.

A London-based Arabic-language newspaper said on Saturday that Jewish lobbyists contrived the U.S. congressional vote. 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.

In his leading article, Al-Quds Al-Arabi editor Abd al-Bari Atwan urged Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan not to give in to the Jewish lobby's "extortion" tactics.

The US resolution has triggered protests in Turkey. Protesters on Friday marched in front of the US embassy in Ankara, the Turkish capital, chanting "God damn American imperialism".

"This is another game of the United States of America. Turkey never committed genocide but we defend our land," the Associated Press news agency quoted one protester as saying.

Turkey recalled its ambassador to the US and condemned Washington's move to declare the killing of Armenians by Ottoman forces in the First World War a "genocide". "We condemn this resolution which accuses the Turkish nation of a crime it has not committed," Ankara said in a statement on Thursday. "Following this development, our ambassador to Washington, Namik Tan, was recalled to Ankara for consultations."

The announcement came minutes after the US House of Representatives' foreign affairs committee passed a non-binding measure in a 23-22 vote on Thursday, calling on the administration to ensure US policy formally refers to the 1915 mass killings of Armenians as genocide.

There are fears the resolution, if adopted, could damage Turkey's peace efforts with Armenia. But Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said the resolution would not be adopted.

Ankara said the outcome of the US panel's vote demonstrated "a lack of strategic vision" among US legislators at a time when Turkey and the US "are working together on a broad common agenda".

Abdullah Gul, Turkey's president said the resolution had "no value in the eyes of the Turkish people" and warned that it would deal a blow on fledgling efforts to end decades of hostility between Turkey and Armenia.

Al-ManarTV:: ?Jewish Lobby behind U.S. ?Genocide? Vote?, Erdogan Slams Vote as 'Parody' 06/03/2010

 

[amalakas]

I would say that our turkish friends should learn their history and accept what their goverments have done in the past...

Sorry to say but denying a genocide doesn't mean that it didn't happen.

 

[Mercenary]

What Turkey did to the Armenians is Genocide.

Turkey needs to accept its role in history and move on.

 

[qwerty99]

Excuse me but we know our history better than you my friend. Actually during those years Turks were killed by Armenians. They raped our daughter, they burned mosques with people inside. Their priests and spies like "Lawrence" turns them against us. They were chasing false hopes to build their new country and they betrayed us instead of defending their and our country: The Ottoman Empire. So Tehcir Law passed by Ottoman Parliament. We did what it was necessary. And we guarded their caravans with soldiers against thieves and bandits. Today their accusing us for genocide which they have no evidence about that.

 

[Thunder Omni Role]

Completely baseless propaganda been going on for almost a century against Turks. Just the same people who were threatened by Turkish power before and now continuing just because Turkey is a Muslim power.

 

[qwerty99]

Completely baseless propaganda been going on for almost a century against Turks. Just the same people who were threatened by Turkish power before and now continuing just because Turkey is a Muslim power.

Yes, exactly what i was trying to say. Also Ottomans called Armenians "millet-i sıddık" which means "loyal people" or you can translate it like "people who can trust". But they turn against us just like Arab tribes did during those days.

 

[great one]

Bernard Lewis also disputes that what happened in Armenia is comparable to the Holocaust or is Genocide.

Bernard Lewis was ordered to pay one franc as damages by a French court in a civil proceeding for his statements on the Armenian Massacres of 1915 in a November 1993 Le Monde article. Lewis's position was that while mass murders did occur, he did not believe there was sufficient evidence to conclude it was government-sponsored, ordered or controlled and therefore did not constitute a genocide. The court stated that "by concealing elements contrary to his opinion, he neglected his duties of objectivity and prudence".[34]

When Lewis received the prestigious National Humanities Medal from President George W. Bush in November 2006, the Armenian National Committee of America took strong objection. Executive Director Aram Hamparian released a statement of pointed disapproval:

“ The President's decision to honor the work of a known genocide denier — an academic mercenary whose politically motivated efforts to cover up the truth run counter to the very principles this award was established to honor — represents a true betrayal of the public trust. ”

Lewis' views on the issue were criticized by human rights activists, historians and scholars, including Alain Finkielkraut, Yves Ternon, Richard G. Hovannisian, Albert Memmi, Pierre Vidal-Naquet,[36][37] Robert Melson,[38] David B. MacDonald,[39] Norman Finkelstein;[40] Stephen Zunes described him as a "notorious genocide-denier".[41] According to historian Yair Auron, "Lewis’ stature provided a lofty cover for the Turkish national agenda of obfuscating academic research on the Armenian Genocide".[42] Israel Charny wrote about Lewis' views that "the seemingly scholarly concern with putting the historical facts in the context of Armenians constituting a threat to the Turks as a rebellious force who together with the Russians threatened the Ottoman Empire, and the insistence that only a policy of deportations was executed, barely conceal the fact that the organized deportations constituted systematic mass murder".] Charny compares the "logical structures" employed by Lewis in his denial of the genocide to those employed by Ernst Nolte in his Holocaust negationism.

Lewis' response
In response, Lewis argued that:

“ There is no evidence of a decision to massacre. On the contrary, there is considerable evidence of attempts to prevent it, which were not very successful. Yes there were tremendous massacres, the numbers are very uncertain but a million may well be likely,[45] ...[and] the issue is not whether the massacres happened or not, but rather if these massacres were as a result of a deliberate preconceived decision of the Turkish government... there is no evidence for such a decision.[46] ”

Lewis stated that he believed "to make [the Armenian Genocide], a parallel with the Holocaust in Germany" was "rather absurd."[45] In an interview with Ha'aretz he stated:

“ The deniers of Holocaust have a purpose: to prolong Nazism and to return to Nazi legislation. Nobody wants the 'Young Turks' back, and nobody wants to have back the Ottoman Law. What do the Armenians want? The Armenians want to benefit from both worlds. On the one hand, they speak with pride of their struggle against the Ottoman despotism, while on the other hand, they compare their tragedy to the Jewish Holocaust. I do not accept this. I do not say that the Armenians did not suffer terribly. But I find enough cause for me to contain their attempts to use the Armenian massacres to diminish the worth of the Jewish Holocaust and to relate to it instead as an ethnic dispute.[

 

[amalakas]

Denial is the resort of the weak. Do not repeat the mistakes of the past by refusing to accept what was done. History must be set right for it to never be repeated again.