Now the Turkish government is
infuriated on a much higher level.
This month, the U.S. House of Representatives’
Foreign Affairs Committee
approved a bill denouncing the
slaughter and expulsion of Armenians
90 years ago as “genocide”. Armenians
put the death toll in the order
of at least 1.5 million. Turkey says
300,000 died, most of them in battle,
in freezing weather or from starvation
and disease. The Democrat-dominated
committee, sending the
bill for a vote by the full House, has
embarrassed the U.S. government. It
needs bases in Turkey to support its
operations in Iraq and Afghanistan,
and sees Turkey as a stable Nato ally.
Without minimising the atrocities
that occurred, the question is what is
an American legislative body doing
passing judgment on a tragedy and a
conflict that happened nearly a century
ago that had nothing to do with
the United States?
The claims of members of the
House committee that they cannot
gloss over the horrors of the massacre
represent the last word in political
hypocrisy. All that is on their minds is
that many, if not most, Armenians
are orthodox Christians whereas the
Turks are Muslims; the political
brains on the committee see votes in
righteously defending Christians
while offending Muslims.
House Democrats have no
qualms about undermining the policies
of the Bush government. Nor do
they seem concerned about Turkey’s
problems with a restive Kurdish minority,
which is in close contact with
Kurds in northeastern Iraq.
If the House committee is so eager
to immerse itself in an ancient conflict,
why does it not show similar
concern about North Korea? Three
years ago, the US Congress passed
the North Korean Human Rights Act
after a great deal of opposition from
critics, who believed it would anger
North Korea in the midst of the ongoing
nuclear weapons crisis. Since the
passage of that act, however, the U.S.
has done little to turn it into an effective
instrument for combating
abuses in North Korea. Although options
appear limited, Washington
could begin by raising the human
rights issue, assisting refugees and
linking aid to the North to improved
human rights conditions.
US policy today calls for dropping
references to “human rights” from all
contacts with North Korea. The term
is so offensive to Pyongyang that US
negotiators fear the North Koreans
would walk out of talks on nuclear
weapons the moment they heard it.
Members of the U.S. House committee
were brave enough to join in
condemning Turkey for what happened
90 years ago. Surely they
should have the courage to go after
North Korea for more than half a century
of persecution in which millions
have been killed, died of disease or
starvation or have frozen to death –
the same fates that befell the Armenians
in Turkey.
It’s unlikely, however, that the
committee will display such courage.
Perhaps Democrats are waiting for
time to pass before addressing the
lessons of history. Maybe in 50 years
or so, Congress will look back on the
suffering of North Koreans and pass
another righteous resolution. By that
time, so many Koreans will have fled
to the U.S. that opportunistic members
of Congress will salivate over the
votes they will get from a bold resolution
condemning Pyongyang.