It is clear that special interest strong-arming of politicians not only hurts the American people, but also constitutes a threat to US relations with its allies It has been several decades that Armenian special interest groups have been lobbying Congress to convince to pass a resolution labeling what happened between Ottoman Turks and Ottoman Armenians in 1915-1919 as “genocide”—a topic still widely debated among historians. Legitimacy of the strategies used by these Armenian groups has been questioned— on February 18, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the Department of Justice, the IRS, the Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate urging an investigation into whether the Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region (ANCA-WR) and the ANCA Endowment Fund violated their status as charitable organizations by actively participating in political campaigns, publicly endorsing political candidates (including the Obama-Biden ticket), and lobbying for the Armenian agenda in Congress.

According to the first nationwide public opinion survey of Turkey on this issue that the ARI Foundation conducted in 2007 in partnership with Terror Free Tomorrow of Washington DC, congressional passage of such a resolution would actually set back the cause it purports to achieve—namely shedding light onto the historical events and promoting Turkey’s reconciliation with Armenia. According to the poll, 78% of the Turkish public opposes a resolution by the U.S. Congress on the issue of the Armenian allegation of genocide, irrespective of the wording of the actual resolution. More importantly, 73% think the effect of passage would worsen relations between Turkey and Armenia.

A very significant finding was also uncovered during this survey– 74% of Turkish people believe that the most important reasons that the U.S. Congress would approve an Armenian resolution are anti-Muslim feelings and American domestic politics. Yet another Armenian Resolution was introduced in Congress last week. Is this the message that the new Congress wants to give to one of its most important allies and the country that President Obama will visit in early April?

Washington must understand that the Turkish people are not afraid of facing what happened in their history—as long as it is done fairly and by experts, not politicians. In fact, hardly a day goes by where a news article or television program does not address this issue from one angle or the other. Debate on this issue is now wide open in Turkey, where books by the most ardent supporters of the Armenian historical narrative are available everywhere. Contrast that to Armenia, where hardly any publication that contrasts their views is available. While most Turks are opposed to an American political judgment on this historical issue, 75% of all Turks favor unbiased scholarship by independent historians on what occurred between Turks and Armenians during the demise of Ottoman Empire. How many countries in the world would have such courage and open-heartedness in the face of a topic that hangs over their head like the sword of Damocles? This public response is quite in line with the repeated invitations from both President Gul and Prime Minister Erdogan to initiate a joint historical commission constituted of Turkish, Armenian and international experts.

When I was invited to Armenia in August 2007 to meet with high-level state officials (including the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs), former prime ministers, political party leaders, NGO representatives and journalists, I realized that Armenians living in Armenia stand quite differently on this debate in comparison to the Armenian Diaspora living in the US, Europe and other parts of the world. The message that they repeatedly gave me was that the ordinary Armenian people want to look forward and improve relations with their neighbor Turkey at many different levels, including social, economic and cultural. They also seemed quite puzzled and irritated as to why a foreign government’s legislative body would dwell into history and even attempt to use it as a foreign policy lever.

Will President Obama keep his promise and have the courage to take special interest out of legislation and encourage direct reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey? Or will he give in and allow Congress take an unjust, one-sided action to satisfy the Armenian Diaspora at the expense of alienating Turkey and Armenia by undermining their ongoing rapprochement? The Turkish people are not asking for a favor— we are asking for justice.

Yurter Ozcan
ARI Foundation, President
Washington D.C.
March 24, 2009
www.arifoundation.org