While it is not surprising to learn that Turkey and the United States coordinated their official declarations on the Armenian Genocide, recent revelations have confirmed their shameful behind-the-scenes schemes.
In a speech delivered in Australia late last year, former U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans revealed for the first time that the State Department regularly conferred with the Turkish Embassy in Washington on the content of the U.S. president’s annual April 24 statement on the Armenian Genocide.
This clearly reflects the degree of collaboration between Turkey and the United States on the genocide issue, and even more appalling, American officials’ succumbing to the gag rule imposed by a denialist regime.
The American-Turkish collusion on the Armenian Genocide issue was recently corroborated by Deniz Kahraman in the Aydinlik Turkish newspaper, revealing that the two governments jointly drafted the statement that Prime Minister Erdogan issued on April 23, 2014. He offered condolences to Armenians, Turks, and others who died from various causes during World War I, thus equating the deaths of Turkish soldiers with Armenian Genocide victims.
Basing his information on unnamed diplomatic sources, Kahraman wrote that the White House had been fully aware of the content of Erdogan’s statement in advance of its release. In fact, the Turkish prime minister’s text was prepared with U.S. input and finalized by officials in both countries. It appears that the initial text was prepared by the Turkish Foreign Ministry, after which the White House made some modifications, “based on U.S. sensitivities” on this issue. On April 21, the Turkish Foreign Ministry forwarded the final text to Erdogan’s office, which released it to the public on April 23.
Kahraman also revealed that in return for accepting U.S. modifications of Erdogan’s statement, Washington offered to block the pending Armenian Genocide Resolution in the Senate, after its adoption by the Foreign Relations Committee in early April.
Aydinlik reported that Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has personally been following the Armenian Diaspora’s preparations for the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Turkey is reportedly evaluating its countermoves, which include convincing the Armenian government to revive the comatose Armenian-Turkish protocols, while simultaneously energizing the mediating efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group to resolve the Karabagh (Artsakh) conflict through public diplomacy.
According to Aydinlik, Ankara is evaluating its plans on how best to counter Armenians who are pursuing their demands from Turkey through three separate channels: “legal, political, and public opinion.” Kahraman reported that a serious political rift emerged last June between Turkey and the U.S., after which Washington started pressuring Turkey to take more resolute steps on the Armenian Genocide issue and normalize relations with Israel. To appease the United States, the Turkish prime minister issued a statement on April 23, on the eve of the 99th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
Aydinlik also reported that the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in favor of Turkish denialist Dogu Perincek had strengthened Ankara’s hand in international circles. However, Washington wanted Turkey to be more accommodating on the Armenian Genocide issue. That is why Turkish and U.S. officials orchestrated the release of a public statement by Erdogan on April 23, right before Obama’s own statement on April 24.
It is therefore not surprising that State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki had high praise for Erdogan’s April 23 statement, describing it as a positive step that would pave the way for improved relations between Armenia and Turkey. Unbeknownst to the public, the State Department was in fact praising a statement that it had helped draft.
While Turkey and the United States are playing a dishonest game of publicly supporting each other’s privately orchestrated statements on the Armenian Genocide, Davutoglu let the cat out of the bag by announcing in Parliament that Erdogan’s April 23 message of condolences was part of the Turkish campaign to undermine Armenian efforts to commemorate the Centennial of the genocide.
Finally, I wish to remind all those who have wrongly claimed that Erdogan’s April 23 message was an unprecedented pronouncement by a Turkish leader, that almost 90 years ago, on June 22, 1926, Turkish President Kemal Ataturk made a truly bold statement in an interview with the Los Angeles Examiner: “These leftovers of the Young Turk Party who should have been made to account for the lives of millions of our Christian subjects who were ruthlessly driven en masse from their homes and massacred…”
Harut Sassounian
When will we learn that the only way for us is to have a strong country ant try to find ways of common interests. Politics is dirty and nobody will help us unless it served them. The Baku pogroms was a repetition of the Genocide for the same reason….oil interests….wake up Armenians…stop trying to prove the Genocide happened….everybody knows it…it just doesn’t serve their interest…concentrate on strengthening the country you have so as you get the rest of your lands!
Well said …
WE know our genocide DID HAPPEN the world knows WE AS ARMENIANS MUST STAY TOGHETHER AND UNITED keep ARMENIA strong and SAFE do not worry what other certain nations think, it really is NOT important
I shall e3xpan further on the topic in an article which i shall email to many Armenian news agencies,newspapers..hopefully they will publish.
My Idea of a strong Armenia is to steer away -as much as possible-from Big powers.Try to establish well prepared and administered contacts with many a small ,middle size countries.
Best position would be for Armenia to be FINLANDIZED,so to say.A country that survived , when Big Russia(ling ago) tried to have her in her orbit…and failed. It is now one of the few really DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST countries with a very healthy economy.No No sky scrapers there….but no beggars and poor people either.
Like Sweden, N orway and Denmark these other few are on the sma epath and models for us to copy an d learn from them
Unfortunately for us Armenia and other 14 ex soviet republics became overnight wildly Free market economy.WE do n´t need that model.That is why we are not progressing at a good rate in the Republic. Same can be said of our Diaspora(s).Not organized and after above like wild free market dealings…we must get togetgher and plan to be cooperative.forget about Union unite.No political party here in Europe is UNITED WITH ANOTHER in any of these countries.,but they BECOME ON FIST WHEN FACED WITH INTERNATIONLA ISSUES.
Best Hasgcoghin