SEN. OBAMA VS. SPEAKER HASTERT: INTEGRITY VS. IMMORALITY
26-10-2005 13:10:00 | USA | Articles and Analyses
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
There have been so many developments on Turkish-Armenian
issues in recent days that the avalanche of news reports has
overwhelmed the e-mail boxes of Armenian newspapers. The fast
pace of unfolding events has also made the task of political
commentators more difficult.
Here are some quick comments on a few recent developments:
1) Ever since the House International Relations Committee
approved by an overwhelming majority the two resolutions on the
Armenian Genocide, the Armenian-American community has been
waiting to see if the Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert,
would be kind enough to allow one of these resolutions to come
to the floor of the House for a final vote. The question is: can
Armenian-Americans apply sufficient pressure on the Speaker to
make him realize that he and some of his Republican colleagues
would lose a lot more in the next congressional elections than
gain by sitting on these commemorative bills? We are not even
raising here the issues of morality and doing the right thing,
and other noble, but unfortunately irrelevant concepts, such as
truth and justice. The Speaker may have forgotten that on April
19, 1984, he delivered remarks on the House floor supporting a
similar congressional resolution on the Armenian Genocide that
was approved by the full House. "Over a million Armenians were
exiled and eventually murdered by the Ottoman Turks beginning on
April 24, 1915. As a result of this genocide, the Armenian
population of the Ottoman Empire was effectively eliminated
through a carefully executed government plan," Cong. Hastert
uttered those words before becoming Speaker. He also voted on
June 5, 1996, for the Radanovich Amendment, to cut U.S. aid to
Turkey, until that country recognizes the Armenian Genocide. The
measure was adopted by a bipartisan majority.
2) Speaking of morality - a rare commodity for politicians
these days - US Senator Barack Obama (Dem.-Illinois), seems to
be one of those rare Members of Congress with integrity. When
harassed by Azeri journalists during his recent trip to Baku
over his signing of a letter to Pres. Bush asking him to
recognize the Armenian Genocide, he bravely told the Azeris: "I
believe the letter sent by the Senators to President George Bush
to recognize the genocide of Armenians reflects historic facts."
He is quoted by AzerNews as saying that the letter to Bush
indicated that a large number of innocent Armenians were killed
during the genocide. "By signing the letter, I also defended the
interests of the State of Illinois [that] I represent. Killing
civilians anywhere in the world should not be allowed, " Sen.
Obama said. Not too many politicians would stand up in hostile
territory and defend their principled position on an issue.
3) While the Armenian-American community is trying to push
through a congressional resolution on the Armenian Genocide, a
small group of Turkish-Americans, the so-called "Daughters of
Ataturk," are trying to propose a counter bill to commemorate
the alleged "massacre of 2.5 million Turks in Eastern Anatolia
by Armenians between 1915 and 1923." This must be a sick joke. I
don't think these shameless "ladies" would find a single member
of Congress who would stoop so low as to sponsor such a
preposterous lie for a fistful of Turkish Liras!
4) In a recent column, I wrote that the Turkish Ambassador
in Washington, D.C., Faruk Logoglu, had done a very poor job of
defending the interests of his country during the deliberations
of the House International Relations Committee on the Armenian
Genocide bills. I speculated that Amb. Logoglu may be recalled
to Ankara due to his inability to block the passage of these
bills in committee. Subsequently, Hurriyet reported that Amb.
Logoglu would be leaving his post shortly. Turkish Foreign
Ministry officials must have been dissatisfied with the
Ambassador's inability to fight the Armenian Genocide bills.
According to Hurriyet, Amb. Logoglu would no longer be
affiliated with the Foreign Ministry. Instead, he would join or
head his own private think tank.
5) The British Foreign Ministry just announced that the
infamous UK Ambassador to Armenia, Thorda Abbott-Watt, would be
leaving her post next January. The readers probably recall that
she insulted Armenians worldwide last year by brazenly denying
the facts of the Armenian Genocide! We say goodbye to her and
good riddance! Would she be interested, by any chance, in
replacing Amb. Logoglu at the Turkish Foreign Ministry in
Ankara?