Wednesday, October 17, 2007

10-17-07: The 1915 Armenian Genocide Issue

I should probably do more research on this, but from what I’ve read so far, I simply don’t understand the reasoning for the condemnation of an incident that happened in Turkey back in 1915.

Apparently this is a long-pending issue, which makes sense. The incident did happen 92 years ago, back when Turkey was the Ottoman Empire, but I guess it’s never too late. So basically, what Nancy Pelosi wants to do, despite chiding from fellow Democrat (now Turkish lobbyist) Dick Gephardt, is to condemn an alleged genocide by a defunct government. In doing so, this would offend modern Turkey, who is threatening dire retribution because of this. By the way, Turkey is one of our allies in the Middle East, and is helping us with Iraq.

I just don’t get it. I understand that genocide is genocide, and what the Ottomans did was terrible. But the timing is horrendous! Why are we pissing off an ally? There’s been plenty of genocide since 1915 that the U.S. has condemned, but should Congress be spending its time on this one? I can see the argument that “Just because they are our ally does not make them immune to criticism,” but this is just dumb. To say that modern Turkey is not responsible is all well and good, which is the truth, but that’s not going to sit well with the Turks. They see it as an offensive gesture, and it won’t help the U.S.

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