Posted on 04/26/2009 2:35:18 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said he saw U.S. President Barack Obama's remarks regarding the incidents of 1915 as unacceptable.
Turkey criticizes Obama for not mentioning slain Turks
"We see the previous day's remarks on the incidents of 1915 as an unacceptable interpretation of history that does not reflect the realities," Erdogan said during a meeting of his Justice and Development Party, or AKP, in the Turkish capital of Ankara.
Erdogan said that his party had only exerted to win friends, not enemies since it became the government, but Turkey's sensitivity was not perceived well.
"Such a sensitive issue of expertise, which should in fact be left to historians, is continuously being used as a tool for politics and a matter of misuse by lobbies every year, and this prevents normalization of relations between people and countries," he said.
Erdogan said Turkey had been in a since effort to examine and bring to daylight the incidents of 1915 by historians, but its good-willed proposals like setting up a joint committee of historians were not taken into consideration.
"I would like to express my deep sorrow over efforts of many politicians to try to win votes over misuse of 1915 incidents, and history is an esteemed branch of science that cannot be made a tool for internal politics," he said.
Erdogan expressed Turkey's wish to leave history to historians, and said if countries that had no connection with the issue gave up dealing with the issue, this would lead to normalization of relations, illumination of history and laying the groundwork for peace.
The Turkish prime minister said it was not a remark satisfying Turkey, but it was a statement which kept promises made at election grounds.
Erdogan also said that Turkey was not a country that could be fooled.
Obama is simply out of his element when it comes to fine points of history, especially well before he was hatched. Maybe this obtuseness passes for guts.
Well, his statement was consistent with the history both he and President Bush claimed to believe before they were elected.
I can hardly believe that those stubborn old Turks aren't lapping up Obama's message of hope and change. I just knew Obama would have all the old hatreds of the Middle East resolved within his first 100 days.
Or, more likely his approach will make them even worse.
hmm, Obama ought to be more educated.
Guts? Pure stupidity to get involved. I guess there are more Armenian voters than Turkish ones in the US.
Yeah, hey baraq — make a note to remember that, when you’re dealing with muslims, you’ve gotta take their lies into account. They believe them sincerely. And don’t you forget it. muslims lie, on every occasion.
There were more German in the U.S. than Jews during WWII. Do you think we were on the wrong side?
Are you Armenian? The event in question took place almost a hundred years ago. Let the historians deal with it. We don’t need our government addressing the problem in 2009.
No, I’m not Armenian. I don’t even have any close friend who are Armenian. I just it’s stupid for the U.S. to appease other countries like this. Do you also think we should pretend the Holocaust during WWII didn’t happen, because the Middle East would like us to?
We are appeasing Armenians, at home and abroad, who want us to make such statements. I have lived in five different countries in Europe for a total of 13 years. Part of the problem in places like Greece and elsewhere is that they treat events that happened hundreds of years ago as though they happened yesterday. It is the source of friction and discord. Why should the US become involved in such a dispute between Armenia and Turkey? What purpose does it serve in terms of our national interst? How does it help us?
Should we issue a statement as to who is at fault in the dispute between Pakistan and India over Kashmir?
The Holocaust is recent history. The US killed hundreds of thousands of Germans, if not more than a million, to defeat the Nazis and their world view. Our troops liberated concentration camps. We were deeply involved. We have a Holocaust Museum on the Mall. We had nothing to do with the events between the Turks and the Armenians. What you fail to understand is that Obama and Bush and other US Presidents have made statements on these events to win votes from Armenian-Americans, many of whom live in California. It is crass politics rather than idealism.
We already ignore the crimes of the communists too much. By the way, Turks spend big money in academia so this won't be taught.
The big difference is we are trying to be bribed and manipulated in this case. That’s what I object to.
Anti-appeasement has nothing to do with it. Turkey is a fellow member of NATO with a very important geostrategic position. We have US military bases in Turkey, which have served us well in the Cold War, the Gulf War, and in the present war in Iraq. By a narrow vote in the Turkish parliament, we were denied the ability to transit Turkey to invade Iraq with the 4th ID. That hurt our ability to end the war more quickly. And we will need Turkey in dealing with Russia over Georgia. There are also important gas and oil lines that cross Turkey and are important to providing energy supplies to Europe.
You seem to believe that we must go out of our way to confront the non-existent "Muslim World." Turkey is a muslim country who is an allie. Our Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain, a muslim country. We have prepositioned military supplies in muslim countries like Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, and the UAE. Centcom Forward is located in Doha. And many of these countries buy military weapons and other goods and services from us that help our economy and lower our military unit costs for aircraft, missiles, etc. And without our ability to use Pakistan [a muslim country] as a transit and logistical base, we would have a very difficult time prosecuting the war in Afghanistan.
There are reasons why we don't try to piss people off unnecessarily and why past adminsitrations did not touch sensitive subjects like Armenian genocide with the Turks. Turkish diplomats have been assassinated in the US and around the world by Armenian terrorists.
"January 28, 1982 - Los Angeles, California, United States: Two Armenian gunmen assassinate Turkish Consul General, Kemal Arikan, in his automobile while waiting at an intersection. Justice Commandos against Armenian Genocide (JCAG) claims responsibility. One of the assassins, Hampig Sassounian, a 19-year-old Armenian American member of the Justice Commandos against Armenian Genocide (JCAG), is arrested shortly thereafter. Sassounian's father states on public television, "I am glad that a Turk was killed, but my son did not do it." Sassounian's accomplice, believed to be Krikor Saliba, escapes to Beirut. Los Angeles police search Sassounian's automobile, seizing a .357 caliber bullet and a one-way airline ticket from Los Angeles to Beirut. Police also search Sassounian's home, where they seize a gun receipt, pistol targets, and a manifesto of "The Armenian Youth Federation." Although Sassounian pleads not guilty, the Court convicts him of first-degree murder and sentences to life imprisonment. Sassounian's sentence is later changed to 25 years-life in an appeal agreement in which he finally confesses to the killing. On October 6, 1980 a first attempt was made on Arikan's life, when his home was firebombed.
We already ignore the crimes of the communists too much. By the way, Turks spend big money in academia so this won't be taught.
You are living in an idealized world where everything is black and white, good and bad. Unfortunately, those of us who live in the real world don't have that luxury. The choices are not that easy.
We are being neither bribed nor manipulated. We are knowingly rubbing salt into 100 year old wounds that serves no purpose except to further alienate a long time ally, which is having its own domestic problems with Islamic fundamentalists. This kind of action just helps anti-American forces within Turkey. Obama was stupid in how he approached this matter and the Turkish PM let him know about it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.