Turks are hoping that time will weaken arguments and memory, experts say
"There is a very strong feeling in the Congress that this may not be the best time to bring up the Armenian Genocide resolution because of the Iraq/Kurdish situation, retired U.S. Foreign Service officer and author Edward Alexander said when commenting on Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's statement reading: "It is my sincere wish that the U.S. Congress does not keep this resolution and does away with the discussion of this resolution altogether."
"The main thing is that it should not be shelved. You have scholars at the International Association of Genocide Scholars come up with the same conclusion. It is simply a move on the part of Turkey to delay the resolution in the hope that eventually those who are true survivors will have died and their offspring, like myself, will be so elderly. I am 87. Turks are hoping that time will weaken the arguments and memory," Mr Alexander said.
For his part Turkish scholar Taner Akcam noted that the resolution does and does not matter. "It doesn't matter because it will be a psychological victory, but won't really solve anything. It does matter because Turkey must understand that threatening with its political strategic power will not solve its list of problems. For instance, Turkey cannot become a member of the European Union if talking about history is a crime. It is a stupid distinction to think that there is a difference between Armenians and Armenians in the Diaspora. They are all asking that the perpetrator must face their history," he said, Medill News Service reports.
"The main thing is that it should not be shelved. You have scholars at the International Association of Genocide Scholars come up with the same conclusion. It is simply a move on the part of Turkey to delay the resolution in the hope that eventually those who are true survivors will have died and their offspring, like myself, will be so elderly. I am 87. Turks are hoping that time will weaken the arguments and memory," Mr Alexander said.
For his part Turkish scholar Taner Akcam noted that the resolution does and does not matter. "It doesn't matter because it will be a psychological victory, but won't really solve anything. It does matter because Turkey must understand that threatening with its political strategic power will not solve its list of problems. For instance, Turkey cannot become a member of the European Union if talking about history is a crime. It is a stupid distinction to think that there is a difference between Armenians and Armenians in the Diaspora. They are all asking that the perpetrator must face their history," he said, Medill News Service reports.
