An Early Message from the U.S. President to Turkey
Published in Güneş
(Turkey) on 10 January 2011
by Kubilay Çelik (link to original)
(Turkey) on 10 January 2011
by Kubilay Çelik (link to original)
Translated from
by Dayla Rogers.
Edited by Julia Uyttewaal.
I have written frequently in my column about the efforts of the Armenian Diaspora and how they have tried to back Turkey into a corner in many parts of the world.
The U.S. is a focal point for their endeavors because a “Genocide Act” passed in the U.S. Congress would cause other nations throughout the world to form similar opinions.
In the past few months I have been watching for signs of what will happen this coming April. I have insisted that our officials must take this seriously and open up lines of communication with American politicians starting now because the Armenian lobby will not stand idle on this issue. If we leave this until the last minute, the decision of the U.S. Congress could deal us a damaging blow.
Surprisingly, as we struggle with the issue in the first quarter of January, a sign comes from the U.S.: “The U.S. President Barack Obama will not declare ‘genocide’ on April 24.”*
As we all know, Armenians mark Apr. 24 as “Genocide Day.” Every acting U.S. president makes a statement acknowledging his grief, but no president has yet used the word “genocide.” This is because the president understands that there is more to the events than what lies at the surface.
We still have over three months until Apr. 24. Why, then, has an announcement like this already come from the U.S.? I don’t get it.
Could it be that there is some other issue that the U.S. needs to resolve with Turkey on an earlier time frame? Is the U.S. sending this “early message” for this reason?
We’ll have to wait and see…
*Editor's Note: Quotation could not be verified.
The U.S. is a focal point for their endeavors because a “Genocide Act” passed in the U.S. Congress would cause other nations throughout the world to form similar opinions.
In the past few months I have been watching for signs of what will happen this coming April. I have insisted that our officials must take this seriously and open up lines of communication with American politicians starting now because the Armenian lobby will not stand idle on this issue. If we leave this until the last minute, the decision of the U.S. Congress could deal us a damaging blow.
Surprisingly, as we struggle with the issue in the first quarter of January, a sign comes from the U.S.: “The U.S. President Barack Obama will not declare ‘genocide’ on April 24.”*
As we all know, Armenians mark Apr. 24 as “Genocide Day.” Every acting U.S. president makes a statement acknowledging his grief, but no president has yet used the word “genocide.” This is because the president understands that there is more to the events than what lies at the surface.
We still have over three months until Apr. 24. Why, then, has an announcement like this already come from the U.S.? I don’t get it.
Could it be that there is some other issue that the U.S. needs to resolve with Turkey on an earlier time frame? Is the U.S. sending this “early message” for this reason?
We’ll have to wait and see…
*Editor's Note: Quotation could not be verified.