In most cases – and this one is no different – it’s better to leave history to the historians. Via The Washington Post, it looks as though a House panel has ignored that advice and passed a non-binding resolution to recognize the label of “Armenian genocide.” Turkey is pissed, of course, and they’ve withdrawn their ambassador to Washington.
While its goals are undoubtedly admirable ones, the panel’s decision to choose now — of all times — to go ahead with this resolution is absurd. With measures such as these, timing is everything and this is definitely not the time. America does not need to threaten our relationship with Turkey over a largely-symbolic Congressional resolution. On the contrary, policymakers in Washington need to be working to actively strengthen ties with Ankara.
There are obvious reasons for this: most importantly, Turkey has shown itself to be a critical partner in encouraging a more moderate form of Islam; and it has been a major military and strategic ally in the Middle East for many decades. Unfortunately, mostly as a result of disagreements over Kurdish autonomy in northern Iraq, the past few years have put increasing strain on American relations with Turkey. As Washington and Ankara have grown more distant, the Turkish government has turned away from the West and opened its arms to the Middle East. Iran and Syria have strengthened ties with Turkey, and Ankara has made overtures to Hamas in recent months. With Turkey busy “rediscovering the Middle East,” the West is finding it increasingly difficult to work with Ankara and the population is growing more radicalized and anti-Western.
This latest resolution threatens to strain the relationship even further. There is already some talk of the US being kicked out of the Incirlik airbase in southern Turkey, as Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has spoken out quite harshly against the resolution. Meanwhile, America’s approval rating in Turkey (it was around 60% positive back in 2000) has recently dropped to 12%. I imagine that, as of today, 12% has become an overestimate.
While I’ve long argued that the United States should be at the forefront of promoting democracy and human rights, it must be done strategically. This kind of meaningless Congressional resolution isn’t likely to promote either of those ideals, but will merely harm the important relationship that we have with Turkey. I basically agree with Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino here:
“One of the reasons we opposed the resolution in the House yesterday is that the president has expressed on behalf of the American people our horror at the tragedy of 1915. But at the same time, we have national security concerns, and many of our troops and supplies go through Turkey. They are a very important ally in the war on terror, and we are going to continue to try to work with them. And we hope that the House does not put forward a full vote.â€
Actually, I’d take it a step further than Perino, as the danger is not just about American troop access or Turkish help in Iraq. More importantly, we don’t want to strain our relationship with Turkey because they’ve proved to be a tremendously powerful bulwark against radical Islam. The ruling AKP party, in particular, has provided the Islamic world with a peaceful, moderate form of Islam that, if encouraged, can continue to be a model for the rest of the region. If the United States jeopardizes its relationship with the AKP government, however, we will forfeit our ability to promote this trend.
Note: Photo credit goes to Ibrahim Usta/Associated Press.