The International Herald Trib reports that the Foreign Relations Committee of the US House of Representatives declared that Turkey once committed genocide against the Armenians. Readers of this blog may remember Hrant Dink, an Armenian-Turkish journalist who condemned the genocide and was murdered. President Bush asked the House committee to deny that this was a genocide.
Predictably, the Turkish government reacted angrily. Face it, guys ... your ancestors did commit genocide, and if you refuse to face up to that, you join in the crime.
The Turkish government warns that if the full House votes that this was a genocide, they may reconsider their support of the war in Iraq; at present, the US is allowed to operate an airbase at Incirlik, and is allowed to ship supplies through the northern part of Turkey.
The Turks are also conducting operations against the Kurds in northern Iraq, and have suppressed (sometimes brutally) the Kurds that are living in Turkey.
A second IHT article highlights an interesting facet of Turkey's generally good relations with Israel. Turkey is Israel's only friend in the Muslim world. Turkey also asked Israel to use its influence to essentially interfere in US politics and stop the vote. The Israel lobby has, mainly for worse, tremendous influence with the US legislature, but they declined to act here. In fact, the notorious Anti-Defamation League (which mainly accuses of anti-Semitism those who support a just peace in the Middle East) labeled Turkey's past actions as "tantamount to genocide."
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