Israel and Ukraine new bother for Turkey?

PanARMENIAN.Net - With regard to the Knesset, the probability of discussing a resolution on the Armenian Genocide is almost vanishing. And it’s not so much the desire to do a bad turn to Turkey, but the fact that for the Jews there exists only the Holocaust. All other genocides are simply “tragic events”. There are several reasons for such racism, but the most important is that Israel is reluctant to give the “burden of unhappy people” to anyone, since it gives certain preferences in the form of compensations. Compensations, by the way, are quite significant - Germany paid the Holocaust survivors about 1 billion Euros. According to some Armenian experts, Turkey owes Armenia $ 41 billion, so apart from the moral aspect there is also the purely financial side which under the current crisis is becoming more and more pressing. The reality is that the Knesset will not recognize the Armenian Genocide, and it is unquestionable. The issue will not even go so far as establishment of a relevant commission, but even if it does, the issue will be carried away. So the Turks and Azerbaijanis can sleep peacefully. However, the proverb “Never say never” is applicable in politics. Conscience may suddenly arise in the Israeli MPs and they may unexpectedly decide that other peoples have been treated no less brutally than the Jews. However, recognition by Israel is not even a matter of tomorrow. If the Armenian community were bigger and stronger in Israel, there could be more hope on that. But here another question arises: should we be hoping for recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Jews, if the Armenian parliament has not recognized the Holocaust? Somehow it seems that had we done it, Jerusalem would take some more radical steps. But what can’t be cured must be endured.

Things are different with Ukraine, especially since Kiev has a new president who will pursue a policy diametrically opposed to the Yushchenko Administration. Stripping of Stepan Bandera of his title, extension of the lease for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, new agreement on gas prices show that Viktor Yanukovych is determined to pursue a pro-Moscow policy, at the same time not overlooking the interests of Ukraine. Ukraine has quite a big and strong Armenian community which does its best for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. In this case, chances for the Armenians are much greater. And if Kiev also decides on leaving the GUAM (which seems quite realistic), then she will no longer have to look back at her pretty unreliable partners, Mikhail Saakashvili and Ilham Aliyev.

As for the Turkish side, it will continue to bang that the issue of the Armenian Genocide is the business of historians and not that of parliaments. But Ankara’s position is understandable: if the decision has force of law, you can go to arbitration with it. And this is what Turkey fears most, keeping in mind the tribunal of 1919, when Talaat and his associates were sentenced to death. In this regard, one-time actions of some of the Turkish intellectuals on April 24 cannot cause anything but sympathy from the Armenian side. Repentance of even hundreds of people has nothing to do with the remaining 70 million for whom Armenia and the Armenians are enemy number one. And until then the mantra “Genocide is the business of historians” will be voiced by a variety of people.