The Hindu Business Line : Should US fix history?

The Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives (lower house), on October 10, bravely passed a resolution that, among other things, a systematic campaign had been undertaken to kill Armenians in Turkey between 1915 and 1923, and called upon the US President to “ensure that the foreign policy of the US reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented in the US rec ord relating to the Armenian Genocide”. It is a non-binding resolution and is scheduled to be presented to the full House for a vote.

Should the US Congress take on itself the responsibility of fixing problems of historical record? Perhaps being a super-power gives it that right. It takes courage, integrity and a total lack of rationality. That is right. The Congress tried and failed to pass a resolution to make its own President end the current war in Iraq, but was not even able to pass a time-line for withdrawal of troops from there, and has been continuing to pass Bills authorising the billions that are being spent in fighting the war in Iraq.

This Congress is unable to impact current events, so it has decided to go back to history, so to speak. For the US politicians, it was easier to assuage their conscience by dealing with an issue that took place 92 years ago and 8,400 km away.

‘Genocide’ against Armenians?

Turkey is very upset about it, which is somewhat surprising. The perpetrators were the Ottomans and the current Turkish government, successors to a country salvaged from the Ottoman Empire, could have merrily joined in the condemnation.

But, of course, they felt that the nation was being slighted and the Turks have not forgotten the efforts of the western powers of that time to carve up the Ottoman Empire. Nobody can sit quiet today about that!

The Turks agree with the Armenians that several people died at that time. Estimates range from 800,000 to 1.5 million. The sticking point is whether it was ‘genocide’ against Armenians, for that term has all kinds of issues related to intent of action and ethnic cleansing connotations attached to it.

From Turkey’s point of view, it was nasty business that took place in the last days of the Ottoman empire, full of confusion and change.

Fighting the labelling battle

Turkey is an ally of the US, and is realising that in the rough and tumble of US politics, with power fractured between the Presidency and the Legislature, when different parties control them, friends and foes get treated equally badly. National identities are built on interpretations of history, and Turkey has its own version of what happened. The Turks are now fighting the battle about the labelling in the US on many fronts. The government has protested officially and withdrawn its ambassador from Washington.

Turkish generals have been issuing dark warnings that they would end cooperation with the US war in Iraq. The government released full-page advertisements in US newspapers and even hired lobbyists in the US to work behind the scenes and prevent any resolution from being passed in the full House. Anti-US demonstrations have taken place in Ankara.

US history

I have a suggestion. The right move in this game of shadow-boxing is for Turkey to take commensurate action by poking its finger in US history. I have at least two resolutions that the Turkish parliament can pass:

The indigenous peoples of North America (also referred to as Native Americans and as Indians) faced the waves of European immigration between the 16th and 19th centuries and lost their lands. Some tribes were wiped out in the ensuing conflicts, and the new diseases that came also took their toll.

When many tribes entered into agreements with the US government, these were often ignored, violated through military actions, and the natives continued to lose territory and rights. Why not pass a resolution calling it a genocide by the US government against the natives and ask the UN to look into it? Non-binding, of course.

Slavery was official in the US from the 16th century till 1865. Slaves contributed significantly to the economy of the country and helped make it the power that it is. A movement in the US has been advocating that the US Government apologise to the descendants of the slaves for the inhuman practice, and to pay compensation. Why not the Turkish Parliament pass a resolution condemning the practice of slavery, and urge the US Government to apologise to all those countries from whom it imported slaves?

Touchy about past

These two resolutions will continue this fascinating pursuit of name-calling and keep the dispute at the level of distraction that we all need in our lives!

Unfortunately, countries are touchy about their past and every country on this planet has its own interpretation of events. These interpretations often change when governments’ change and history books get re-written.

The US is so touchy about how it presents its treatment of the indigenous peoples and slavery that these subjects are generally white-washed in the approved textbooks used in the schools. Read James Loewen’s Lies my teacher told me (New Press, New York, 1995) for a fascinating analysis of this.

Driving force behind resolution

Ironically, even those in the US Government who opposed the resolution that was passed did so not because they thought it was silly and unnecessary mischief, but because they felt that Turkey is a key gateway to moving men and materials for the Iraq war now and the resolution will disturb that arrangement.

The driving force for the resolution is said to be the pressure from Armenians settled in California on their elected representatives.

The Armenians have brought such resolutions through the Committee in the past too, although they have all failed to reach the stage of voting in the full House.

This resolution falls into a time-honoured US tradition of foreign policy positions taken to satisfy domestic pressure points of the day.

The classic example of that is the continuing influence in shaping US foreign policy towards Cuba by the big constituency of refugees and other immigrants from Cuba who are settled in Florida and continue to rabidly hate Castro.

It’s all in the game

In the game of international gamesmanship, it might all work out in Turkey’s favour. Turkey has been wanting to attack Kurdish bases in Iraq from which terrorists are alleged to regularly launch attacks inside Turkey.

Turkish soldiers have been killed and they are itching for a fight that would take them well into northern Iraq. The US has warned it not to, but the US leverage is getting weakened.

Slowly, many of those who originally supported the resolution in the US Congress are having second thoughts and it might well come to pass that wisdom would dawn on the Speaker of the House (who counts many Armenian-Americans among her constituents) and the resolution may not be brought for a vote this time also.

Turkey, smelling that, may capitalise on its ‘hurt’ and quickly launch a few attacks on Iraq to establish its ‘right’. And, thus, the grown-ups play.

The simple lesson coming out of the misadventure of the US Congress is that it is important to poke your nose into the affairs of other nations if you can help them when they are killing each other; otherwise, keep your nose to yourself.

(The author is a professor of international business and strategic management at Suffolk University, Boston, US. He can be reached at cgopinat@suffolk.edu)

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