Or, how to scuttle promising international developments with senseless moral posturing. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has agreed to co-sponsor a resolution condemning the Turkish mass expulsion/massacres of 1915-1916, and labeling it a “genocide.” It clearly meets the definition of ethnic cleansing, and no one is absolving Turkey of blame. 1.5 million Armenians were killed, and hundreds of thousands more forcefully expelled. They were horrific acts, no matter what label Congress gives.
But this resolution does nothing other than throw red meat to the Armenian lobby, and it has quite a chance to negatively impact the ongoing Turkish-Armenian peace process. Rapprochement would open the Turkish-Armenian border, establish formal diplomatic relations and encourage bilateral trade. It has been nearly 100 years since the tragedy took place, and the guilty regime—the Ottoman Empire—ceased to exist within five years of the acts. This resolution does nothing more than inflame a hot button issue, all for the sole purpose of pandering to a domestic interest group. Furthermore, it harms the U.S.-Turkish relationship, already strained by some of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdoğan’s more ‘colorful’ actions.
But then again, it’s par the course these days for Congress to undercut U.S. foreign policy.
