U.S. genocide move reopens old wounds in Turkey

By Gareth Jones - Analysis

ANKARA (Reuters) - A symbolic declaration about events 92 years ago might seem of little but academic interest, but to Turks a text now before the U.S. Congress is so sensitive that they are ready to risk ties with their main strategic ally.

The non-binding resolution, approved by Congress's Foreign Relations Committee last week and expected to be endorsed in November by the House of Representatives, brands as genocide the 1915 mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks.

NATO member Turkey has recalled its envoy to Washington for consultations and has hinted it might halt logistical support to U.S. troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan if the bill passes. It may also deny U.S. firms lucrative defense contracts.

Most Turks view the bill as a hostile act that insults their national honor. The resolution also revives old Turkish fears of foreign meddling in its internal affairs.

"The Armenian issue is being used as a lever by those who want to hurt and undermine Turkey," Murat Mercan, a senior lawmaker of the ruling AK Party, told Reuters, voicing a sentiment widely felt in this key NATO ally of Washington.

"We are proud of our history. We have nothing to hide. The fact we have opened our archives and have proposed a joint committee of historians from Turkey, Armenia and elsewhere to study the documents shows we are confident about our history."

If Congress passes the resolution, it will be following in the steps of many other foreign legislatures, including those of France, Russia, Greece and Canada. Each time, Turkey has reacted angrily, temporarily cutting trade, defense and other ties.

But the Congress moves are especially hurtful to Ankara, already fuming over Washington's failure to tackle Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq. Turkey is now considering sending troops into Iraq to crush the rebels, despite U.S. opposition.

NATIONAL CHARACTER

Mehmet Ali Birand, a veteran liberal commentator, said Turkey should put aside talk of retaliation and adopt calmer tactics in its global efforts to counter the genocide claims.

"But when we see a wall blocking our way we do tend to charge straight at it. It seems to be in our national character," he said, conceding a change of tactics was unlikely.

William Hale of Istanbul's Sabanci University, said part of the explanation for Turkey's behavior lies in its unhappy experiences at foreign hands in the late Ottoman period before Kemal Ataturk founded the modern republic in 1923.

"The fundamental problem is the 'Sevres' syndrome," he said, referring to a failed attempt by major Western powers to carve up Turkey after World War One. That treaty, among other things, envisaged creating a large Armenian state in eastern Turkey.

"The Christian minorities in the Ottoman Empire, including the Armenians, were long used by rapacious foreign powers as a tool to advance their territorial ambitions in Turkey," he said.

Similarly, he said, U.S. or French politicians trying to put pressure on Turkey to accept the genocide claims are motivated by domestic agendas rather than by a real interest in the past.