This is the second part of the debate between two
Democratic Congressmen, Howard Berman and Brad Sherman, held at the Ferrahian
School’s Avedissian Hall in Encino, California, on Sept. 29. The debate was
organized by the Armenian National Committee of America, Western Region.
Cong. Sherman: “We need to recognize the Genocide not
only for Armenia, not only for America, but the Turkish state will never be a
modern state until it comes to grip with its own history.” Criticizing US
governments’ reluctance to use the term Armenian Genocide, Cong. Sherman asked:
“What kind of superpower cowers before history? What kind of superpower worries
about Turkish threats? Dozens of parliaments around this world have recognized
the Genocide. It is about time for Congress to have the same level of courage!”
In response to a question on what the two Congressmen
would do to encourage America’s allies such as Israel to recognize the Armenian
Genocide, Cong. Berman stated that “it is audacious for a country that itself
hasn’t recognized the Armenian Genocide, to start telling other countries what
they should be doing. So number one: get this [genocide] resolution passed, and
push and persuade the Executive Branch to support what the Congress has done,
and then you do want to make it into an international consensus. But, we are
not effectively going to tell a government that they should do something that
we haven’t yet done. …”
Cong. Sherman: “I’m proud that Yad Vashem, the Holocaust
Museum in Jerusalem, recognizes the Armenian genocide; proud that the Holocaust
Museum in Washington does the same. We need to recognize the Armenian genocide
at the U.S. government level, but I for one have the chutzpah to urge my
Israeli friends to do it even before we do it. And the politics in Israel are a
little different. Here, there is still
this mirage that somehow Turkey is the critical American ally. In Israel, that
same mirage was more or less shattered recently, and so we may indeed find that
Israel is able to beat the United States in recognizing the first genocide of
the 20th century. And given the history of Israel and the history of the Jewish
people, I think it’s an important thing to do. So I for one don’t believe we
should wait to urge Israel to move forward, but we should be inspired to move
forward ourselves as quickly as possible.”
Panelist Harut Sassounian: “I would like to clarify
something for the record based on the answers that you both gave. Before we
give any wiggle room for Israel to wait for us to pronounce judgment on this
issue, I think we would do well to remember that in 1975 and in 1984, twice,
the House of Representatives, the full House, adopted resolutions recognizing
the Armenian genocide. So Israel doesn’t have to wait for the US to do it
first. We’ve already done it twice, so they can do it once at least, in the
meantime.”
Cong. Berman: “For historical reasons Israel should do
it, particularly Israel, should do it.”
Cong. Sherman: Israel is going to recognize the Armenian
Genocide “because it is the moral and right thing to do and because the
historical record is there.”
In response to a question on whether the United States
should stop paying rent to the Turkish government for the Airbase in Incirlik,
Turkey — located on occupied Armenian territories — and pay that money to the
heirs of original Armenian owners, Cong. Sherman stated: “I look forward to developing a foreign
policy where we are less dependent upon the use of bases in Turkey, because
I’ve seen them try to lobby the Pentagon, to lobby Congress not to recognize
the Genocide on the theory that, ‘oh, you need our bases.’ We can and should
work with our other southeast Asian NATO allies to have a basing structure that
does not require us to be paying rent to the Turkish state. …However, as long as our base is on that
land, that becomes an excellent argument for additional aid to the Armenian
state because we’re on that territory.”
Cong. Berman: “…One of the arguments made in Congress
against the genocide resolution is ‘Oh the Turks will kick us out of Incirlik.’
The Turks have no intention of kicking us out of Incirlik. They want us there;
they’re desperate to have us there. This is a smokescreen. This is an argument
that people who are fronting for the Turkish position use to scare Congress
into thinking there’ll be great dangers to our national security.”
(to be continued)
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