A few years ago Syria and Turkey were in a serious disagreement concerning water rights. I think Syria thought better of pulling something while having a very strong military on their far border.

Politics makes strange bed fellows.

Check out this new Jihad Watch video over at Hot Air.
The nutty Liberal head man at the ADL apparently feels the destruction of Christians by Muslims is not to be spoken against strongly, if keeping quiet will appease Muslims. Foxman does not want the…

Here’s the deal about the Armenian genocide. It is estimated that between 1 and 1.5 million Armenians were systematically killed by the Ottoman Turks. To this day, Turkey refuses to acknowledge that it ever happened and to my knowledge, records from the Ottoman Empire remain sealed.

I met a Turkish fellow while doing my master’s degree, and according to him, what they were taught in school is that yes, there were many Armenian deaths, but this was all in the course of war, because the Armenians initiated an insurrection (which is false).

As it stands now, most European countries have adopted resolutions recognizing the Armenian genocide, and the fact that Turkey still refuses to recognize it suits the Europeans well, because it is one of the main issues that allows them to prevent Turkey from joining the EU (they have enough problems with Islam as it is).

Canada, where I live has also adopted a similar resolution, alas who cares about Canada does, we have little power internationally. Note that the Armenian diaspora is similar to the Jewish one, which has allowed for these resolutions to be passed.

Now we come down to why a similar resolution has not been passed in the US. It all boils down to cost/benefit. Turkey is a big ally and trading partner with Israel, which needs all the Muslim nation allies it can get. Ditto for the US, in terms of being an ally. If I’m not mistaken, Turkish airspace came in quite handy during the initial attack on Iraq. I think there’s also a military base there.

So in the end, it comes down to pragmatism. I personally don’t blame the US and Israel for the positions they’ve taken. It does not erase the massive amounts of evidence that the Armenian genocide happened. There are bigger fish to fry in this day and age.

If Germany had never admitted the holocaust occurred and it was a crime to admit it, would Israel have a diplomatic relationship?

US and Turkey strange bedfellows, of course. Why else did they pull out of the agreement to allow our forces to have access to Iraq through their territory, which resulted in the loss of American lives?

US/Turkey, US/China are strange bedfellows. As I read the news each day, US and China have a relationship that just keeps getting stranger.

Hening on September 6, 2007 at 1:11 PM

Everyone has strange “bedfellows” as allies. But always remember that they aren’t friends, they’re advantagous relationships between countries. Just think about the US, Britian, Australia, and RUSSIA as allies in World War 2. Russia with Stalin in charge. Communist Russia – responsible for massacring 20 million of its own people. Why were they allies? Because they had a common enemy. Were they allies for long? Nope.

When you have diplomatic relations with another country, sometimes it’s a tightrope of knowing what their sins are and knowing that the relationship is simply a politic or strategic advantage. That’s all. I know this seems mean or cynical, but if you watch how quickly nations turn on each other, you realize how very fragile foreign relations are.

Oh, and by the by, Israel has relations with both Jordan and Egypt where many, many people (including those in government) are Holocaust deniers. So yeah. And don’t forget Palestine. Hamas and Fatah are just chock full of deniers (yet Israel keeps trying).

Am I picking on the Turks? Did I mention they were responsible for the First Crusade?

Hening on September 6, 2007 at 2:35 PM

It’s a good thing you didn’t call them Muslims, We wouldn’t want to let the cat out of the bag.

KCtheKat on September 6, 2007 at 3:18 PM

The people who called for the first crusade in 1095 were completely different from those who perpetrated genocide on the Armenians in 1919. Up until 1453 the region was primarily Christian under the Byzantine Empire, when it was conquered by Sultan Mehmed II. The city of Constantinople was renamed Istanbul and became the capital of the Ottoman Empire. So to link the crusaders with the Armenian genocide is in error. As would referring to them as Muslims.

Until the late 19th century, Armenians were referred to as millet-i sadıka (loyal nation) by the Ottomans.[8] Under the millet system of Ottoman law, Armenians (as dhimmis, along with Greeks, Jews and other ethnic and religious minorities) were subject to laws different from those applied to Muslims. They had separate legal courts, although disputes involving a Muslim fell under sharia-based law. Armenians were exempt from serving in the military and were instead made to pay an exemption tax, the jizya; their testimony in Islamic courts was inadmissible against Muslims; they were not allowed to bear arms, and they were heavily taxed,[9] although they were one of the largest minorities in the Ottoman Empire.[10]

Am I picking on the Turks? Did I mention they were responsible for the First Crusade?

Hening on September 6, 2007 at 2:35 PM

It’s a good thing you didn’t call them Muslims, We wouldn’t want to let the cat out of the bag.

Israel being responsible for the Turkish slaughter of Armenians was never mentioned. There was no Israel at the time anyway. What is related is the topic of this thread. Armenian historians have not missed the connection between Hitler’s comment, the Jewish genocide by Germany (which Islam was part of)and the common issue of both Armenians and Hebrews being subject to genocide.

Two friends from Jerusalem had planned on visiting Turkey and canceled their plans after bombs started going off in the Jewish quarter of Istanbul.

Am I picking on the Turks? Did I mention they were responsible for the First Crusade?

Robert Spencer’s Jihad Watch video is definitely worth the few minutes to listen to it. What do the Armenian Genocide, Mohammed Atta, and Hitler have in common? Even more than you might think. One quibble with Spencer: there are a……

I’ve been told that during the crusades, the Muslim world was not even aware that the attacks were part of a larger campaign. You could excuse that back then because of poor communication. The fact that the West refuses to acknowledge the same today is not excusable.

Hening on September 6, 2007 at 1:11 PM

Ok. I’ll give you the German example. And yeah, it’s trite, but politics make strange bedfellows. Just felt that making modern Israel or its politics in any way related/responsible for the Turkish war on Armenians is going way too far.

Everybody has relations with Turkey. Find someone else to hold to a higher standard.

Israel has excellent relations with Germany.

If Germany had never admitted the holocaust occurred and it was a crime to admit it, would Israel have a diplomatic relationship?

US and Turkey strange bedfellows, of course. Why else did they pull out of the agreement to allow our forces to have access to Iraq through their territory, which resulted in the loss of American lives?

US/Turkey, US/China are strange bedfellows. As I read the news each day, US and China have a relationship that just keeps getting stranger.

Turkey is a NATO member and long-time American ally.

US and Turkey. Strange bedfellows?

JiangxiDad on September 6, 2007 at 12:44 PM

You beat me to it.

Hening on September 6, 2007 at 12:40 PM

Israel has excellent relations with Germany. We have full relations with China–Mao killed millions.
We have relations with Russia.
Turkey is a NATO member and long-time American ally.

US and Turkey. Strange bedfellows?

The Turks were savages and the Armenian and Greek histories (and others)can testify. Israel and Turkey, very strange bedfellows.