Quoting kaddersokak:

an article from today's zaman

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ABDULHAMIT BILICI
Columnists


Voice of Mutafyan



The US Congress attracts attention in Turkey mainly for two reasons. Firstly, the Turkish public and administration are concerned about the restrictions imposed by the Congress on the foreign aid and armaments the Turkish Army needs.
The US administration puts a special emphasis on relations with Turkey for strategic reasons and makes commitments to improve bilateral relations accordingly. However the democratic sensitivities in Congress, the lobbies and the concerns about domestic politics, generally take over in discussions within the legislative branches, which annex reservations to the foreign aid clauses and impose restrictions on the arms sales. Due to the dramatic economic progress Turkey has made the foreign aid issue has fortunately lost importance in recent years.
The second issue that closely relates to Turkey is the alleged Armenian genocide, frequently discussed at Congress. Once again the legislative branch will soon discuss a draft bill on the recognition of the Armenian “genocide.” Following the election victory of the Democrats and the subsequent takeover of Nancy Pelosi as the speaker of the House of Representatives, the support for the draft bill dramatically increased. Both the US and Turkish administrations are exerting maximum effort to prevent its adoption at Congress. However the fate of the bill still remains unclear. Recently we were with eight officials who hold vital positions related to Congress. These advisors to the Congress members paid a visit to Turkey as the invitees of the Washington-based Maryland Institute for Dialogue. These were people who worked for the members during the decision making process by preparing vital files and bridging the gap between the politicians and the electorate.

The group included names from both parties. It was a good opportunity to make observations. Congress encouraged them to take part in such travels to closely examine an issue that concerns them a lot.

They tried to understand Turkey through high-quality questions, while I tried to get an idea of what they thought of Turkey so far. I was especially concerned about the impact of this visit on their perception of Turkey.

At a dinner offered by Samanyolu TV the guests admitted that they were exhausted. However they seemed pleased with the outcome of their visit. One of them noted that it was their best visit ever. This was their first visit to Turkey. They were so impressed that most considered coming back for a vacation.

Though the schedule included visits to historical sites and brief breaks for shopping, the journey was mostly about brainstorming activities on Turkey and bilateral relations between Turkey and the US. The five-day program included almost everything, including visits to the Foreign Ministry, Turkish History Association, the American Embassy, Turkish History Foundation, the Fener Armenian Patriarchate, the 500th Year Foundation of the Jewish Community and Fatih University.

It was really nice, when listening to their impressions from their visit, to see that they had developed new perspectives on the thorny issues in relations with the US. For instance, one of the guests said: “I used to view the PKK issue as a fight for freedom. I realized during my stay here that the PKK is a marginal group within the Kurds and unable to represent the entire Kurdish community.”

Another guest underlined that his views on the alleged Armenian genocide changed dramatically during the visit: “I did not know that Turks were so frustrated about this issue. I used to think that a nonbinding decision should not be that important. Now I hold that it will be a colossal mistake to take the issue to the Congress as it will cost us to lose the faith of Turkish people.” Shocked by the remarks of the Armenian Patriarch Mesrob Mutafyan, who noted that the Patriarchate did not support the draft bill before Congress as it would not contribute to the dialogue efforts between the two peoples, the advisors asked the patriarch why Armenian civil society organizations or the Patriarchate have not made their views known in Washington.

The American guests were also shocked by the remarks by Turkish History Society President Yusuf Halaçoğlu who recalled that the Turkish archives were open to researchers, while the Armenian archives were still kept confidential in Boston. Admitting that they have been misinformed about this issue so far, the guests promised to exert efforts toward ensuring that the archives in Boston would be opened. They also pledged to convince Congress members to withdraw their signatures from the draft bill. The guests, who also noted that they frequently received briefings from the Pentagon and the State Department, said they found the outcome of this visit both effective and informative. Congratulations to the Maryland Institute for Dialogue for proving that Turkey’s just causes can be explained to the world.


11.08.2007