ATAA, FTAA Oppose Anti-Turkish Legislation, H.Res.s 304 and 306

In a joint statement, the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) and Federation of Turkish American Associations (FTAA) expressed their concern about two recently introduced resolutions, which condemn Turkey of the crime of genocide against Armenians during World War I, and the destruction of the Christian heritage of ancient and modern Turkey as a form of genocide against Christians. Both organizations urged Turkish Americans to contact their representatives through the CapWiz system and ask their representatives to distance themselves from these misleading resolutions.

Dear Representative:

We, the Presidents of America’s national Turkish American grassroots organizations, The Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) and Federation of Turkish American Associations (FTAA), representing over 500,000 Turkish Americans and 300,000 Turkic Americans, respectfully urge you to reject and oppose H.Res.304 which Representatives Robert Dold (R-IL) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) recently introduced and H.Res.306 which Representatives Howard Berman (D-CA) and Edward Royce (R-CA) introduced.  These resolutions condemn Turkey of the crime of genocide against Armenians during World War I, and the destruction of the Christian heritage of ancient and modern Turkey as a form of genocide against Christians.

1.   H.Res.304 accuses the Ottoman Empire, and by implication, Turkey and people of Turkish heritage, of the high crime of genocide. In 1987, the UN applied the UN Genocide Convention to the Armenian case and chose not to adopt a report that argued in favor of the genocide label. Further, in response to misleading statements by the Armenian American lobby, in 2003 and 2007 the UN reaffirmed that it had not accepted the Armenian case as genocide. And, the United States, by virtue of its ratification of the UN Genocide Convention, acknowledges the sole jurisdiction to hear genocide allegations is the International Court of Justice at The Hague -- not Congress.

To date, there have been 12 resolutions regarding the Armenian case.  Six have failed, the most recent H.Res.252, because they characterized the events of 1915 as genocide.  The six that succeeded did not characterize the events as a crime.

Whether the Ottoman Armenian tragedy constitutes a case of genocide is a genuine historic controversy.  Experts on Ottoman history do not consider the Armenian case genocide.  Among some more recent works forwarding this view are:

• Edward J. Erickson, Ottoman Army Effectiveness in World War I: A Comparative Study, (2007)
• Guenter Lewy, The Armenian Massacres in Ottoman Turkey, A Disputed Genocide (2005)
• Justin McCarthy, The Armenian Rebellion at Van (2006)
• Michael Gunter, Armenian History and the Question of Genocide (2011)

Furthermore, H.Res.304 contravenes U.S. foreign policy. It is U.S. policy not to define the Armenian case in terms of a crime, but to encourage its foreign allies, Turkey and Armenia, to reach their own conclusion via the Turkey – Armenia Protocols, which the European Union and Russia are also supporting. The Protocols include the establishment of a historical commission to investigate the events of 1915. This investigation will necessarily probe the Armenian Revolt (1885-1919) during which 1.1 million Ottoman Muslims and Jews perished, and its consequences for Ottoman Armenians.

2.   H.Res.306 is actually an allegation of genocide in the cloak of hyperbolic charges that Turkey is destroying its ancient and modern Christian heritage as a part of an “intentional destruction” of Turkey’s Christian populations. The term “intentional destruction” is simply a rewording of Article 2 of the UN Convention which identifies the “intent to destroy” as a key element of the crime of genocide. Furthermore, the various claims of H.Res.306 are largely invalidated by the report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom and the 2010 progress report of the European Union, both of which commend freedom of religion in Turkey.

Turkish policy is to prevent or redress any violation of religious rights, by accepting the absolute jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Indeed, the highest court in Turkey is not in Ankara, but in Strasbourg. Turkey complies with the decisions of the ECHR. In 2010 the ECHR ordered Turkey to return church property on the Island of Büyükada to the Greek Orthodox Church.  The Greek Patriarchate commended Turkey for being the first European Council Member to actually obey an ECHR order and return real property. We should expect reciprocation from former Ottoman countries that are European Council members subject to the jurisdiction of the ECHR, such as Greece, South Cyprus and Armenia, for the return of Turkish religious property, including mosques and synagogues.

Turkish policy is also to rehabilitate and place into public service as many religious sites as is feasible.  In a country that offers over 10,000 years of human history and even greater numbers of sacred sites, the task of restoring, protecting, and placing into public service this rich cultural heritage is expensive, time consuming, and delicate work, and rarely assisted by others -- even by those who are so eager to complain about Turkey.  Regardless, Turkey has taken the following actions that we would like to mention here:

a- In 2005, Turkey and the Landmarks Foundation restored the Akhtamar Church in Van;

b- Turkey and the Landmarks Foundation is restoring the Balyan Church in Istanbul;

c- Turkey independently is restoring the Holy Savior Cathedral in Ani;

d- In 2010, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul commenced services in the Sumela Monastery in Trabzon and thousands of worshippers attended;

e- In 2010, the Armenian Church commenced services in the Akhtamar Church in Van;

People of Turkish heritage have a tradition of protecting and accepting refugees of religious persecution, including the Armenians during Byzantine times, Jews during the European Inquisitions, Jews during the Holocaust, Bulgarian Turks in the 1980s, and Bosnians in the 1990s.  Today, the Jewish population of Turkey is the second greatest in the former Ottoman lands, Israel having the highest.  There are 19 synagogues in Istanbul alone.     

If universal human rights are the true aim of the aforementioned resolutions, their main sponsors might have asked their Armenian American constituents to take a good look at themselves and Members of Congress to take a broader and deeper look at the region before throwing the first stone at Turkey.  Armenia’s current brutal occupation of western Azerbaijan that has caused the massacres of thousands and a refugee crisis of over 1.5 million Azeris is a case in point.  There is no parity and meaningful discussion regarding these massacres or the plight of the refugees, let alone their demolished mosques.1

Similarly, Greek American constituents should also take a good look at themselves.  Athens has not permitted a single mosque to be built despite its Muslim population.  In Greece, people of Turkish and Muslim heritage are subject to severe limitations on: speaking and writing their language; practicing their culture and religion; educating themselves on their Turkish and Muslim heritage; and electing their religious leaders – all fundamental freedoms controlled from Athens which to this date continues to deny the existence of its Turkish minority by referring to them as “Turcophone Hellenic Muslims.” The same holds true for Macedonians, which Athens refers to as “Slavaphone Hellenes”.  And, the same holds true for the Jewish heritage of Greece, which has all but been erased by the same types of policies.2

Viewing Turkey, not in a vacuum or with blinders, but in its proper regional context, one can see that Turkey stands head and shoulders above states in its region in terms of tolerance and freedom in a pluralist society.  Turkish voters just completed another successful elections on June 12.  Turkey has the 6th strongest economy in Europe, 16th in the world, and is the 7th most visited tourist destination in the world.  In stark contrast, the democracies and economies of Greece and Armenia raise grave concern.  The Greek economic crisis is gripped with growing street riots.  And since the independence of Armenia, over one million Armenians have left the country due to its political and economic problems -- more than 100,000 seeking work and citizenship in Turkey.

A careful and sincere look at the region might lead one to expect that first the various Orthodox Churches and their followers would do some of their own housekeeping, before complaining about Turkey.  Currently, the Armenian and Georgian churches are in a bitter dispute, demanding legal status for their churches and equal status for their followers in each other’s countries.  Meanwhile, the Armenian Church denies the existence of the Georgian faith in Armenia, claiming that Georgians in Armenia are actually adherents of the Greek Orthodox faith and subordinated of the Georgian Church.

We regrettably take special note that the frequency, gross inaccuracies, and derogatory tone of resolutions such as H.Res.304 and H.Res.306 reflect an anti-Turkish and anti-Muslim prejudice, and create a dangerous atmosphere of hatred directed at Americans of Turkish heritage.  These resolutions deny people of Turkish and Muslim heritage fairness and justice, as they place the legislature, a politically motivated body, in the seat of an arbiter of ethnic disputes.  Furthermore, these resolutions harm US interests in an increasingly complex, multi-polar region, by harming US-Turkish relations.

Please provide no quarter to these misleading resolutions, to ethnic feuds on Capitol Hill, and to bigotry and hatred cloaked as human rights resolutions.

Sincerely,

Ergün Kırlıkovalı                                     Kaya Boztepe                               President                                               President                                
ATAA                                                      FTAA                                     
1526 18th Street, NW                           821 United Nations Plaza      
Washington DC 20036                          New York, NY 10017