Jewish lobby changes stance on Armenian genocide

From the Cyprus Weekly:

Jewish lobby changes stance on Armenian genocide

But group stands against Congress resolution

By Philippos Stylianou

THE Anti-Defamation League (ADL), representing the powerful Jewish lobby in America, has taken a sudden, albeit reluctant, step towards recognising the 1915 Armenian genocide by the Turks.

But it stood firmly against a US Congress resolution to that effect, fearing repercussions on the Jewish community in Turkey and on the relations of the United States and Israel with that country.

Although watered down, the ADL move has met with fierce reaction from Ankara with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan complaining to Israeli President Shimon Perez over it.

According to Anatolia news agency, Erdogan said that the ADL had sent him a fax retracting the genocide statement and admitting they had made a mistake in changing their stand on the issue.

"They said that they share our sensitivities in particular on account of this statement regarding us, and they expressed the mistake they had made in the written fax they sent us," Erdogan is said to have told the press.

Confront past

Asked if the retraction would be limited to the facsimile message or the ADL would "declare it to the world", Erdogan said that it had already been posted on the ADL website.

But only the statement on the recognition of the Armenian genocide, dated August 21, 2007, appeared on the ADL webpage and no retraction had been posted on it.

The Cyprus Weekly has sought to clarify the issue with the Israeli Embassy in Nicosia but without success.

In its surprise statement of August 21, the Anti-Defamation League said that they had all along described the 1915-1918 events perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenians as massacres and atrocities.

"On reflection – the statement added – we have come to share the view of Henry Morgenthau (US Ambassador to Turkey at the time) that the consequences of those actions were indeed tantamount to genocide. If the word genocide had existed then, they would have called it genocide."

Urging the Turkish nation to "confront its past and work to reconcile with the Armenians over this dark chapter of its history," the ADL concluded as follows:

"Having said that, we continue to firmly believe that a Congressional resolution on such matters is a counterproductive diversion and will not foster reconciliation between the Turks and Armenians and may put at risk the Turkish Jewish community and the important multilateral relationship between Turkey, Israel and the United States."

Dramatic U-turn

The development, described as a dramatic U-turn by influential Jewish circles, came only four days after the Anti-Defamation League sacked its New England Regional Director, Andrew H. Tarsy.

According to the website "Ynet - Jewish World", Tarsy blasted the organisation for failing to recognise the Armenian genocide, pointing out that this position was "morally indefensible."

Tarsy’s dismissal caused tension among American Jews and forced the ADL to issue the genocide statement. An ADL official source stated afterwards: "We changed our position and we hope the Turkish government doesn’t take it out on the Jews." The source was also revealing about the position previously held by the Jews on the Armenian genocide issue.

"The ADL has always sought guidance form the Turkish Jewish community, which told us to back the Turkish government on this. So we have always backed Turkey’s stance," the source said.

The Jewish community in Turkey was established 500 years ago and today numbers 27,000 people, of whom 24,500 live in Istanbul. Another 2,400 live in Izmir (Smyrna) from which the total Greek population was expelled or slaughtered in 1922.

The Armenians, one of the ancient indigenous people of Asia Minor along with the Greeks, numbered several million until 1915. Taking advantage of the World War I upheaval ally enemy Turkey proceeded to exterminate more than 1,5 million Armenians through mass deportations, called "death marches", forced labour, executions and other privations

To date, Turkey refuses to admit its responsibility for the genocide, despite calls by Europe and the international community at large.

Greece Declares a National State of Emergency

Cypriots were glued to their television sets today as the awful news reports coming out of Greece had people shocked by what they were hearing. Many shaking their heads in disbelief as the death toll from the forest fires rose to at least 53, and the number is expected to rise given that a large number of people are currently missing.

Video below begins with the words "Greece in the mist of a disaster..."

The Preplanned Invasion of Cyprus

"The Turkish fighters have pledged to fight on until the realization of partition. The attitude of the Turkish minority has been admittedly one of provoking division and instigating armed conflict with the aim of partition."--Halkan Sesi, mouthpiece of Turkish Cypriot leadership, 29 February 1964

Turkey had been threatening to invade Cyprus throughout the 1960’s. Turkey did more then just threaten; this “guarantor power” used its Air Force to bomb several Cypriot villages in August 1964. Listen to this 1974 report. The reporter actually stated that “the Turkish Government has been working on plans for an invasion of Cyprus for the last 10 years.”

Nicholas Burns: Need for Justice in Cyprus

From the Cyprus Weekly:

Need for justice in Cyprus – Burns

By Demetra Molyva

US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns yesterday urged ``the need for justice in Cyprus,'' and called for a US-backed initiative for the reunification of the island in a federal form.

"We cannot forget the need for justice, the need to resolve the conflict that has gone on for too long and we need to put the determination and strength of the United States as well as Europe behind a fresh and new initiative by the Secretary General of the United States for peace for Cyprus.

“I think our policy has been very clear. The United States supports one government on Cyprus and we recognise only one government on Cyprus that is the government of the Republic of Cyprus,'' Burns said.

He was addressing the Nicosia conference of Overseas Cypriots in a video address from Washington. He expressed his intention to visit Nicosia in the autumn.

He stressed Washington's desire to improve relations with Cyprus saying that, "I want to express a commitment by the United States to improve our relationship with our friend, the Republic of Cyprus...We've had our share of disagreement over the past few years particularly over the Annan Plan of the United Nations.

Friendship

“But I think what we have to do is put those disagreements behind us, we know we have a friend in the Government of Nicosia, the Republic and we have to honour that friendship. And that would be the basis of our trip. We will elevate this relationship to a new level and will put our energy behind the effort to support a settlement for Cyprus.''

He went on to declare that "we know the Cypriots are friends because we have been friends since the beginning of the state. We know they are friends because the Cypriot American community, which has been such a strong and vibrant community, throughout the United States. We certainly felt that friendship a year ago now, during the horrible war in Lebanon when 15,000 American citizens were evacuated from the war zone in Beirut and they managed to get to Cyprus by ship and all of them were greeted there by the Cypriot people. They were put up, they were fed, and they were clothed.

“They were received very warmly and then managed to get on their way back to the United States. We'll never forget that act of friendship of the government of the Republic of Cyprus and the people of Cyprus."

Burns gave examples of the US and Cyprus working together in a practical sense, for peace in the world and the maintenance of stability.

"I know all of you are concerned, as you should be, about the lack of peace on Cyprus, the lack of justice, the fact that the island was occupied by force and that the island has been divided for so long.

“I know that many of you have lost your homes, many of you have had families divided, this is a great tragedy and we Americans cannot and should not forget about this tragedy.

"I know that Cyprus has been divided and Nicosia has been divided longer than Berlin was divided. So it seems to me and it seems to our government that we need to make a renewed effort now to try and resume the international negotiations, led by the United Nations to seek a just resolution of the Cyprus problem.

Need for justice

"As you know, we work with the leaders of the Turkish Cypriot community as part of our efforts to promote a settlement but that does not in any way shape of form signify diplomatic recognition.

“We only recognise the Republic of Cyprus. It's been our long standing policy to support a bizonal, bicommunal federation. Cyprus must be in our view one country, structured to recognise and to protect the rights of all the communities on the island.

"Some polls say the Greek Cypriots may prefer a unitary state, meaning a multi-ethnic state in which there is no separate governing entity for the Turkish Cypriot community. Other polls show that there is a sentiment among Turkish Cypriots to break away and have a separate state on the island of Cyprus. Our policy is federalism, and that is also the policy of the European Union and that is also the basis of what the United Nations are saying on Cyprus."

He referred to the success of the federal system in the US.

"Our view is that we should have one Cyprus, on a bizonal, bicommunal basis and we hope that progress can be made on that basis.

"We were encouraged a year ago in the summer of 2006, when President Papadopoulos and Mr Talat met when they agreed to establish technical committees and working groups to discuss day-to-day and substantive issues.

"It was a positive step forward. This kind of spirit can lay the ground and we believe that this kind of spirit of working together could lay the groundwork for a re-engagement of the United Nations in Cyprus for negotiations.

“So we will support this process, we will use the influence of the United States to encourage the United Nations to re-engage.

"And when I make my trip to Nicosia, this autumn, it's one of the leading issues that I will talk about with the government of Cyprus. And this is how we will be supportive in a renewed effort for peace, in a renewed effort for justice.

"We know the situation is difficult for families, for all the Cypriots who now live apart from their country, all over the world as distinguished citizens of democratic nations.

“We hope that the future of Cyprus will be one, of course, of democracy and freedom and justice on a bizonal and bicommunal basis for the peace that must come to the people on the island."