Baku tries to prevent Turkey from implementing her regional policy

PanARMENIAN.Net - The letters of complaint said ANCA had violated restrictions on charitable organizations "by participating or intervening in any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office." Moreover, ANCA executives "have lobbied Congress and the executive branch heavily with regard to perennial congressional Armenian genocide resolutions and other legislation bearing on U.S.-Armenia, U.S.-Turkey or U.S.-Azerbaijani relations without even registering with the Secretary of the Senate or Clerk of the House." "We're not saying they should be out of business. We're saying there are laws and they should be obeyed," said Melanie Sloan, a former federal prosecutor who's now the head of the private Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington."

In the words of Elizabeth Chouldjian, ANCA's communications director, the charges are unfounded and full of inaccuracies and misrepresentations. Moreover, Chouldjian says the real story is why this is being brought up especially now. "Accusations against the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) are purely political", says "Hay Dat" Office Director Kiro Manoyan. "ANCA is not registered as a lobbyist organization either in the House of Representatives or in the Senate. These accusations might be initiated by the Turkish lobby. Should there have been any financial violations, the American Government would definitely have noticed them. After all, the accusations are much too serious. Discredit is thrown upon the voices of 15 senators, 211 congressmen and U.S. President Barack Obama. I repeat, it's a purely political matter, especially since there is only two months left before April 24, when the US President will address to the US Armenian community," Manoyan emphasized.

Ankara's nervousness in relation to the probable recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the United States is quite explicable, as local administration elections in Turkey are due on March 29. The ruling AKP has to win the majority of votes and Erdogan has to convince his electors of his faithfulness towards the Government and its bases. In this chain we also find the trick used in Davos, which brought another plus in favour of the Turkish Premier, but only in his country. By the way, he counted exactly on that. But the point is not only the home policy of Turkey. The point also lies in Turkey's neighbours, and namely - in Azerbaijan, Russia and Georgia. However, we'll not take Georgia into account since it's a dependent and unsuccessful country. As for Russia, it makes no difference to her whether the USA will recognize the Genocide or not. She has her own interests both in US-Russian and Russian-Turkish relations. There remains only Azerbaijan and it is here that difficulties arise. Supposedly, Turkey must support Baku in every matter, especially in the Karabakh issue and in propagation of lie and calumny against the Armenians. However, it was exactly Baku that began to hinder Turkey in implementing her regional policy. Now all the statements of Erdogan and other high-ranking officials imply that the day when Ankara will move away from Baku is just round the corner. Too often do the Turkish officials vow fidelity and support in the Azeri media. By the way, Turkish media rarely goes down to the level of Baku Agitation and Propaganda Department, perfectly realizing what shape the wild anti-Armenian hysteria can take. Moreover, an instructive example for Baku should be the banning of the documentary "Sari Gelin" in educational institutions of Turkey.

It is quite likely that even if the USA does not recognize the Armenian Genocide, President Barack Obama, keeping his pre-election promise, will utter the word 'genocide', being in this regard the second US president after Ronald Regan. By the way, the Armenian-Turkish relations did not suffer then. Blackmail and threatening were put to use but Regan acted the way he found necessary. Though at that time there was no war in Iraq and Afghanistan, there was the USSR and there were the American missiles installed in Turkey, in case a war would break up against the «Empire of Evil». By the way, the missiles were stationed at the border with Armenia… However, the point is not the words but the tools of controlling this or that process both in the region and in the whole world. Turkey has livened up lately and it is beginning to dictate her terms to the USA and Israel, which is quite unacceptable for these countries irrespective of the US-Israeli interests in the region.