IT'S NOT THE POWER OF THE LOBBY, BUT RIGHTEOUSNESS OF ITS
CAUSE
10-08-2006 14:45:00 | USA | Articles and Analyses
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
In recent years, as Armenian Americans have been getting
better organized in carrying out their political objectives,
there has been repeated talk about "the powerful Armenian
lobby." The most recent example is Julie Corwin?s report on
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on August 2, titled:
"Confirmation Row Shows Power of Diaspora Lobbies."
The analyst for RFE/RL expresses her surprise that a large
number of Senators, Republicans and Democrats, challenged the
Bush administration?s refusal to acknowledge the Armenian
Genocide, during the confirmation hearing of
Ambassador-Designate Richard Hoagland. The current U.S.
Ambassador to Armenia, John Evans, is being dismissed for
speaking publicly and truthfully about the Armenian Genocide. On
August 1, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee postponed, for
the second time, Amb. Hoagland?s confirmation.
Corwin wrote: "The prominence of the issue is due in large
part to the efforts of two powerful lobbying groups ? the
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), and the Armenian
Assembly of America (AAA). There are lobbying groups
representing the concerns of nearly every diaspora community in
the United States. The Armenian lobby is one of the most
successful."
Another interesting article about the Armenian lobby,
written by Heather S. Gregg, a doctoral candidate in the MIT
Political Science Department, has been published a number of
times in different versions and lengths (from 6 to 30 pages)
over the past five years. The article is titled: "Divided They
Conquer: The Success of Armenian Ethnic Lobbies in the U.S."
Various Turkish publications and websites have featured this
article to explain why the Armenian lobby is "so powerful."
Gregg writes: "Within the last decade, Armenian lobby
groups in the United States have achieved considerable success
in gaining political and material support from Congress, the
White House and other federal bodies." She explains this success
by ?the intense lobbying efforts of Armenian-Americans in the
United States. The lobbying success of this small ethnic
minority is largely the result of two factors. First, an
inter-community rivalry within the Armenian-American population
represented by two lobby groups in Washington, the Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA) and the Armenian Assembly
of America (the Assembly), has led to hyper-mobilization of this
ethnic group?s resources?. Second, the Armenians have formed key
alliances in Washington including members of Congress, other
lobby groups and organizations, and the bipartisan Congressional
Caucus on Armenian Issues in the House of Representatives, which
have rallied behind Armenian policy objectives. Together,
hyper-mobilization and alliance building have allowed the
Armenians considerable success in achieving specific policy
objectives."
Why is there such a fascination, to the point of obsession,
with the Armenian lobby? Why Turkish and Azeri publications and
officials make frequent references to the "powerful Armenian
lobby?" There are three possible reasons as to why Turkish and
Azeri officials, political organizations and media outlets are
interested in presenting the Armenian lobby as being all too
powerful:
1) To help rally domestic and international support to
their side;
2) To create sympathy among their supporters for having to
face such a "powerful enemy;"
3) To cover up their errors and incompetence after losing a
particular political battle.
One must not exclude the possibility that all those who are
lobbying on behalf of Turkey and Azerbaijan, be they U.S.
lobbying firms, Jewish organizations or Israeli government
officials, are intentionally exaggerating the power of
the Armenian-American community in order to exact a higher price
from Ankara and Baku for their artificially inflated services.
It is simply amazing that a powerful country like Turkey
and oil rich Azerbaijan, with their political clout, financial
resources, lobbying firms in Washington, D.C., and the support
of the highest officials of the Bush administration, are
complaining about the political activities of the tiny
Armenian-American community. Turkish and Azeri officials along
with their U.S. cohorts, on a regular basis, pressure, censure
and threaten, anyone around the world who dares to support an
Armenian issue. And yet, they are the ones crying "wolf!"
While it is true that the Armenian American community has
become politically more active and effective in recent years,
the fact remains that no matter how many millions do the Turks
and Azeris spend, they cannot whitewash their lies and present
them as the truth. They are simply wrong on the issues.
What empowers the Armenian lobby is the righteousness of
its cause!