Notes
As several authors explained it, the destruction of Ottoman Armenians and its demographic, economic, and political consequences, have played a central role in the making of modern Turkish identity. (Cf. Raymond Kévorkian, Le Génocide des Arméniens, Paris: Odile Jacob, 2006, pp. 9-10). Although Turkish denial also has political and geopolitical reasons, official and vehement denialist policies in Turkey have built a deeply and widely spread perception according to which: 1) Turks could not have done such a bad thing as genocide; 2) if massacres took place, it was because Ottoman-Armenians were a threat to the Turkish-Ottoman state and it was therefore a necessity for which today’s Turkey should not be blamed (Cf. Richard Hovannisian, “Denial of the Armenian Genocide in Comparison with Holocaust Denial,” in Richard Hovannisian (ed.), Remembrance and Denial. The Case of the Armenian Genocide, Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1999, pp. 201-236).
“The New York Times: Events of 1915 were not a ‘massacre’, it was genocide”, PanARMENIAN.net, April 7, 2007; “Associated Press Never Wrote of Armenian Genocide in Quotes”, PanARMENIAN.net, November 14, 2006; “ANCA-WR Applauds Los Angeles Times for Editorial in Support of Armenian Genocide Recognition”, ANCA, Press Release, March 22, 2006.
See, for example: Glenn Kessler, “Campaign Vow to Call Armenians’ Deaths ‘Genocide’ to Be Tested”, Washington Post, March 20, 2010; “Turkey and Armenia Take a Step Toward Rapprochement” (Editorial), Washington Post, October 14, 2009; Paul Farhi, “PBS Panel on Armenian Genocide Stirs Protest”, Washington Post, February 16, 2006; Alessandra Stanley, “A PBS Documentary Makes Its Case for the Armenian Genocide, With or Without a Debate”, New York Times, April 17, 2006, Norman Stone, “Armenian story has another side”, Chicago Tribune, October 16, 2007, Bruce Fein, “Lies, Dam Lies, and Armenian Deaths”, Huffington Post, June 4, 2009.
O. Faruk Loğoğlu, “To Reconcile Turks and Armenians”, Washington Times, May 2, 2005.
Bruce Fein, “Armenian Crimes Amnesia”, Washington Times, October 16, 2007.
Cf., for example: David Holthouse, “State of Denial. Turkey Spends Millions to Cover Up Armenian Genocide”, Intelligence Report, Issue 130, Summer 2008.
Yves Ternon, “Freedom and the Responsibility of the Historian. The ‘Lewis Affair’”, in R. Hovannisian (ed.), Remembrance and Denial..., op. cit., p. 241.
Lou Ann Matossian, “Politics, scholarship, and the Armenian Genocide. Perspectives on the ITS Scandal”, Armenian Reporter, July 19, 2008.
“126 Holocaust Scholars Affirm the Incontestable Fact of the Armenian Genocide and Urge Western Democracies to Officially Recognize it”, New York Times, June 9, 2000.
“International Affirmation of the Armenian Genocide”, Armenian National Institute, http://www.armenian-genocide.org/current_category.11/affirmation_list.html.
“Genocide Recognition by U.S. States”, ANCA Internet site, http://www.anca.org/genocide/states_map.php, (not dated, but copyrighted in 2009).
April 24, 1915 being commonly considered the starting point of the Armenian Genocide, when Ottoman authorities arrested and then deported about 250 Armenian leaders in Constantinople. It has become the commemoration day of the Armenian Genocide.
“International Affirmation of the Armenian Genocide”, Armenian National Institute, http://www.armenian-genocide.org/current_category.99/affirmation_list.html.
“Ground-Breaking Ceremony for Armenian Heritage Park to Be Held on Sept. 9”, Armenian Weekly, September 1, 2010.
Although it is often considered that the Democratic Party is more supportive to Armenian-Americans and to their efforts to push the U.S. to recognize the Armenian Genocide, both Democrats and Republicans have been, over time, involved in the political process for a recognition.
Simon Payaslian, “After Recognition”, Armenian Forum: Journal of Contemporary Affairs, vol. 2, no. 3, 2001, p. 38.
S. Payaslian, “After Recognition…”, art. cit., p. 5.
“Congressional Bill Tracker”, Internet Site: Real Clear Politics (http://www.realclearpolitics.com), http://dyn.realclearpolitics.com/congressional_bill_tracker/bill/98/hjres247/.
Harut Sassounian, “Sassounian: All 3 Branches of U.S. Government Recognize Armenian Genocide”, Armenian Weekly, June 5, 2012.
Michael Bobelian, Children of Armenia. A forgotten Genocide and the Century-Long Struggle for Justice, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009, pp. 169-70.
President Ronald Reagan, “Days of Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust”, Proclamation 4838, April 22, 1981.
Congressional Records. Proceedings and Debates of the 107th Congree, 1st Session, Volume 147, Part 5, April 24, 2001 to May 8, 2001, United States Government Printing Office, 2001, p. 6091.
“Turkey gives muted reaction after Clinton visits Yerevan memorial”, Hürriyet, Tuesday, July 6, 2010.
“Official: Armenian genocide resolution unlikely to get full House vote”, CNN.com, March 6, 2010.
“ANCA condemns Sec. Clinton’s comments on Armenian Genocide”, Armenian Reporter, January 31, 2012.
“Statement of President Barack Obama on Armenian Remembrance Day”, The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, April 24, 2009, April 24, 2010, April 24, 2011, April 24, 2012, and April 24, 2013.
Condoleezza Rice, No Higher Honor. A Memoir of my Years in Washington, New York: Crown Publishers, 2011, pp. 1519-20.
“Armenia: Condi in the Crosshairs”, Eurasianet.org, November 11, 2011.
Matt Lewis, “Should the United States Recognize Armenian Genocide?”, Politics Daily, March 3, 2010.
“Rice: U.S. should not be involved in ‘genocide’ dispute”, Today’s Zaman, March 22, 2007.
Mark Landler and Sebnem Arsu, “After Hitch, Turkey and Armenia Normalize Ties”, New York Times, October 10, 2009.
Turkey decided to close its border with Armenia in April 1993, in solidarity with Azerbaijan which was loosing the war over the Nagorno Karabakh region, against Karabakhi Armenians supported by the Republic of Armenia. See Emil Danielyan, “Turkey ‘nearly opened Armenian border in 2003’”, EurasiaNet.org, February 4, 2005.
“Reconnaissance du génocide arménien par le Congrès américain : Ankara menace de prendre des sanctions contre l’Arménie”, AP, October 16, 2007.
“Obama Administration Urges Congress to Wait on Genocide Resolution”, AP, March 4, 2010.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, “Remarks With Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian”, Presidential Palace, Yerevan, Armenia, June 4, 2012.
“Former U.S. Secretaries of State oppose Armenian Genocide Resolution”, PanARMENIAN.Net, September 27, 2007.
Congressional Records, Proceedings and Debates of the 107th Congress, 1st Session, Volume 153, Part 19, October 1, 2007 to October 16, 2007, p. 27175.
“Is there life on the Armenian-Turkish border?”, Georgia Times, May 30, 2012.
“The Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs had a meeting with the Armenian Diaspora in Chicago”, Press Release, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, May 19, 2012.
“Rice appeals Congress to drop Armenia ‘genocide’ bill”, China View, October 25, 2007.
Philippe Marchesin, “Géopolitique de la Turquie à partir du Grand échiquier de Zbignew Brzezinski”, Études internationales, vol. 33, no. 1, 2002, p. 141.
George S. Harris, “Turkish-American Relations Since the Truman Doctrine”, in Mustafa Aydin and Cagri Erhan (eds.), Turkish-American Relations: Past, Present and Future, London: Routledge, 2003, p. 68.
Cf., for example: Bernard Lewis, “Why Turkey Is the only Muslim Democracy”, Middle East Quarterly, March 1994, pp. 41-49.
“U.S. Interests and Turkey”, A briefing by Marc Grossman,
March 13, 2000, Philadelphia (Middle East Forum, Summary account by Assaf Moghadam, http://www.meforum.org/184/us-interests-and-turkey).
Department of State, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, Background Notes on Turkey, May 2009, http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3432.htm.
Ibidem.
M. Bobelian, Children of Armenia…, op. cit., p. 170.
Department of State, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, Background Notes on Turkey, May 2009, http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3432.htm.
“Turkey”, CIA World Factbook, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tu.html.
“Fact Sheet on U.S. – Turkish Economic and Commercial Cooperation, 2011-2012”, U.S. Department of Commerce, http://export.gov/turkey/build/groups/public/@eg_eur/documents/webcontent/eg_eur_051341.pdf.
Elise Ganem, L’axe Israël-Turquie: vers une nouvelle dynamique proche-orientale, Paris: L’Harmathan, 2005, p. 16.
Ofra Bengio, Professor at Tel Aviv University, author of: The Turkish-Israeli Relationship, Changing Ties of Middle Eastern Outsiders, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
Joshua Walker, “Turkey and Israel’s Relationship in the Middle East”, Mediterranean Quarterly, vol. 17, no. 4, 2006, pp. 71-72.
J. Walker, “Turkey and Israel’s…”, art. cit., p. 80.
Philip Robins, Suits and Uniforms, Turkish Foreign Policy Since the Cold War, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2003, p. 130.
“Resources on Faith, Ethics, and Public Life”, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, Georgetown University, http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/resources/organizations/justice-and-development-party-turkey.
Frédéric Encel, “Causes, déroulement et conséquences de la rupture israélo-turque”, Hérodote, no. 148, 2013, p. 70.
Lale Kemal, “Turkish-Israeli military ties will not resume soon”, Today’s Zaman, April 17, 2013.
Ali Aslan, “‘Shared Vision Document’ Period in U.S.-Turkey Relationships”, Today’s Zaman, July 6, 2006.
“Bush vows help for Turkey against PKK terrorists”, Today’s Zaman, November 6, 2007.
Then-President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan several times criticized Israeli leaders (Shimon Peres and Benyamin Netanyahu in particular) and policies towards the Palestinians (“Erdogan Anti-Israel Talk Negates Mediator Role in Gaza Conflict”, Bloomberg.com, November 12, 2012). More recently, in June 2013, “Erdogan […] reportedly implied that Israel was delighted by the [strong anti-governmental] protests [in Place Taksim in Istanbul,] roiling his country.”
Stephen Cook, “How Do You Say Frenemy in Turkish?”, Foreign Policy (online version), June 1, 2010.
Scheherazade Rehman, “Could Turkey Be a Super Power?”, U.S. News, November 6, 2012.
“Second set of NATO Patriot missiles in Turkey go active”, Reuters, January 29, 2013.
Lale Kemal, “Turkish-Israeli military ties will not resume soon”, Today’s Zaman, April 17, 2013.
“Turkey Dismisses Reported Military Cooperation with Israel”, Xinhua, April 22, 2013.
Elise Ganem, “La détérioration du partenariat israélo-turc”, in Firouzeh Nahavandi (ed.), Turquie, Le déploiement stratégique, Bruxelles: Bruylant, 2012, p. 115.
“Joint Press Conference by President Obama and Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey”, May 16, 2013, The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/05/16/joint-press-conference-president-obama-and-prime-minister-erdogan-turkey.
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