27 February 2010

The Diaspora, and also of course Armenia, uses blackmail as a means to fight against Turkey and the Turks. There are many historical examples of it coming from the 19th century. However, blackmail politics has recently come to the forefront more. We saw the most obvious example of blackmail-approach during the 2004 and 2005 European Union negotiations. Yerevan was almost competing with the Greek Cypriots in opposition against Turkey’s EU bid. And this competition still continues. In all EU platforms attended by Armenian officials, from the president to ministers, they always argue "Turkey does not get along well with its neighbors. Its borders with the neighboring Armenia are still closed. Also Turks do not recognize the (so-called) genocide. Either they recognize the genocide and open the border or they should not be made an EU member."

In the same way, the Armenian blackmail approach continues in the U.S., as well. One draft genocide resolution goes and another comes. The Congress keeps on putting gigantic guillotine shears above the Turkish-American relations. Before every 24 April the speed of the shears is increased more and more. Thus, the genocide that is claimed to have happened 95 years ago keeps deeply affecting relations today.

It can be claimed that international relations are bargaining relations; therefore, there is nothing odd in the Armenian attitude. Yet, this claim, which may seem reasonable at first sight, is not true. International relations are not permanent blackmailing relations. If a tiny country continues to blackmail a giant near it and tries to distort the giant’s relations with the entire world in this way, then it is impossible to accept this attitude. It is wrong to think that a country which has a guillotine above its head will comply with everything permanently. Turkey should know that there is no end to blackmails. It would be naive to think that if you give the ransom wanted in exchange for a kidnapped person, or stolen value or asset valuable to you, the criminal will give the valuable thing back to you. Because the blackmailer is never satisfied, his demands never end. Even if you recognize the "genocide" claims, they will be followed by new demands. The Armenians are not one voice! One gets satisfied when the genocide claims are recognized while compensation or territory demands permeate the other. Having said this, in the past some said, What kind of territory demands can small Armenia have? They will not want any compensation, either. They just want to pacify the pain of their ancestors. In fact, not only the Armenian Supreme Court, but also many Diaspora institutions proved the reality of territory demands after the signature of the protocols. One by one, it is proved that lots of Armenian institutions and opinion leaders excessively thought about compensation and border issues at the level of the ratification of the protocols. Under these circumstances, obviously it is hard for Turkey to satisfy Armenia and Armenians.

Furthermore, the Armenians should know that blackmail is lawlessness, and it is described as a crime in national and international laws. The Armenians should know that with these kinds of criminal methods, they would become wrong even in issues in which they are right. Yesterday terrorism, today blackmailing! Armenians should come to just and legal paths. The path they are following is not a path for them indeed. Apart from legality and legitimacy, real-politics also say that it is necessary not to play such infuriating games with Turkey. Some people in the Diaspora may fantasize. Yet, playing such dark games in a dangerous region like the Caucasus might cost a lot to Armenia.

In brief, upcoming 24 Aprils should not frighten Turkey because some expect to profit from Turkey’s fears. We see the last example of blackmailing in some of the American diplomats’ attitudes: They say "sign the protocols at once or the Armenian Bill will be passed by the Congress."

If Turkey gets scared and makes such irrelevant connections, the loser will be Turkey. The thing that needs to be done is to strengthen the relations between the aforesaid countries on its real dynamics, taking effective and permanent measures against Armenian propaganda, and giving no credit to blackmail. Unfortunately, as the Armenians transformed 24 April into a blackmail asset, Turkey also remembers the Armenian issue by 24 April, and even scientific meetings and publications are hastily made according to that date. The Armenian issue deserves a better organized, more persistent and more qualified struggle. We face a network that used terror yesterday and rely on blackmail today.