APA’s Washington correspondent’s interview with G. Lincoln McCurdy, President of the Turkish Coalition of America (TCA) in Washington DC
– How will the fact that president Obama didn’t use the word genocide but the Armenian expression “Meds Yeghern” during his annual speech influence the negotiations over establishment Turkish-Armenian relations and Nagorno-Karabakh adjustment process?
– What we find most objectionable with President Barack Obama’s statement and other statements regarding the tragic events in the final, turbulent period of the Ottoman Empire, is that they consistently ignore equally tragic loss of even more Muslim lives in Eastern Turkey, Caucasus and the Balkans. There can be moral statement on those years that ignores or denies the ethnic cleansing of Ottoman Turks from the Balkans, Eastern Turkey and the Caucasus with 5 million lost and 5.5 million refugees.
We call on everyone to respect all human loss and suffering regardless of the race, ethnicity or religion of the victims, and to place the Armenian tragedy in its proper historical context. In this context, TCA supports the establishment of a joint historical commission tasked with uncovering a complete historical narrative that could pave the way for reconciliation between the Turkish and Armenian people.
TCA supported the signing of the protocols between Turkey and Armenia several months ago.
At the time, TCA also called on all interested parties to reinvigorate their efforts to end the illegal Armenian occupation of Azerbaijan’s territory and end the plight of nearly one million refugees in Azerbaijan. We stand by our position that a just and lasting solution to this conflict is as essential to peace and stability in the region as any element of the recent Turkey-Armenia protocols. We believe that it is in the United States interest and in the interest of all the countries in the region that all frozen conflicts are approached with a view to prevent future conflicts and create an environment that serves the people of the region.
– What should the US do in that case – stand aside or continue participating in the processes?
– This issue does not belong in the political arena where it has been turned into a political football by the Armenian Diaspora across the world. It is a historical issue and it therefore belongs to a historical commission to lay to rest authoritatively. This is an issue that is rooted in a vastly complicated, tragic history which carries tremendous trauma, based on different individual and collective memories, for Turks and Armenians. Hence, it is a humanistic and psychological issue and can only be addressed through people-to-people dialogue and reconciliation efforts between Turks and Armenians.
APA
