Protocols that Turkey and Armenia signed in Zurich on October 10 was one of the most important developments in 2010. The strongest reaction to the Zurich protocols came from Armenian diaspora in United States.
It is considered in Turkey that Armenian diaspora in United States is very strong and have great influence on the U.S. Congress. It is true that Armenian diaspora has certain influence but there aren’t sufficient studies about the source of the strenght of Armenian diaspora and people are partially ignorant over this issue. Turkey starts to debate Armenian issue every year between January and April over passage of so called Armenian genocide resolution in U.S. Congress, and Turkish media keeps the issue on the agenda during that period. Afterwards Jewish lobby andweapon sellingcompanies prevent the resolution to be passed, so thatweapon sellers can sell weapons to Turkey which costs hundreds of millions. And also Israeli lobby gains the compromises that they have asked from Ankara administration and Turkish Armed Forces. And aftterwards media advertises Israeli lobbies as heroes.
I always had an interest on Armenian lobby during the period that I stayed in United States. Are Armenian lobbies really so strong or is there a certain source of their power? The States that Armenians are themost powerful in United States are Boston and Los Angeles. I had contacts with Armenian patients and their relatives while i wasstudying my doctorate at University of Boston and while I was working in Harvard Medical School. I also had contact with Armenian religious officials due to my religious identity, and I even attended to some of the meetings that are arranged by Armenian diaspora so that I could defend Turkish thesis. But, I want to underscore that all of the Armenians do not share the opinion of Armenian diaspora. I met several Armenians who love Turkey and who struggles to preserve Turkish culture. Among these, there were academicians, students and ordinary people. Once we hadsome chat with an Armenian professor, who was my patient, for hours on the relations between Turkey and Armenia, and Armenian diaspora. He told me that he wrote a letter to late President Turgut Ozal about solution of the problem. He said that Ozal replied his letter and told him that he wants to meet him when he visits United States. “But a few months later Mr. Ozal passed away. If he lived more, he was decisive to solve Turkish-Armenian problem,” said he.
THE ROLE OF ARMENIAN LOBBIES
Armenians in United States are organized on the basis of politics and religion. Their churchs are separated into three parts and it cannot be told that they have good relations among each other. Recently, Armenian churches suffer because of the lack of crowd. Armenians go to church only on Sundays and on the occasion of births, marriages and funerals. And most of the crowdconsistsof people over the age 50. WhenI asked one Armenian about the lack of young people in churches, he told me that young Armenians define theirselves as American more than asArmenian and they lose their contact with the Armenian churches. Armenians have lost their social power. For example Armenian festivals are not passing grandiosely as they were 20 years ago, and they are weak now. On the other hand, Turkish festivals in United States are being celebrated with more and more attendance every other year.
And about Armenian lobbying organizations; in my opinion Armenian lobbying organizations are not that strong as they are introduced in Turkish media. The strength of the lobbies could be evaluated by looking to their budget and their activities. The strongest of them, Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) has offices only in Washington, New York and Los Angeles and according to their websites they have representatives in 23 states. The second biggest Armenian lobbying organization is Armenian Assembly of America (AAA). The group has offices in Washington, California and Yerevan. And the budgets of these foundations are not that high.
WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF ARMENIAN LOBBIES?
Armenians in United States do not have private schools and education facilities as Turkish community has. Turks in United States are organized better than Armenians. But then a question comes to the surface, “What is the source of the strength of Armenian lobbies?.” We need to expand our view to a larger perspective to see the answer of this question. The octopus has arms in some of media organizations and non-governmental organizations in Turkey and Congress and media organizations in United States. These circles bring so called Armenian genocide on the agenda every year and afterwards Israeli lobbies and weapon seller companies create an agenda like the Armenian resolution will be adopted by U.S. Congress. As fast as they take whatever compromises they ask from Turkey, the issue drops from the agendauntil the next year. Israeli lobby does not want to see any other issue of genocide except the Holocaust. Not only Jewish people, but millions of innocent civilian were massacred during World War 2 but non of them are recognized as a genocide.
Zurich protocols that Turkey and Armenia have signed disturbed these circles more than Armenian diaspora. Because of that they consider October 10 as the day of mourning and they assume protocols as betrayal. Turkey-Armenia protocols are important steps for the peace in the region and it will decrease the pressure over Turkey. Other than that, Turkish media is not anymore monodic. Besides, Turkey has its soft power on United States. The strength of lobbies of Turkish people and Muslims in United States should not be underestimated. Turkey can decrease the influence of Armenian diaspora and the circles make use of the Armenian issue by using the power of Turkish and Muslim people in United States.
Turkish Universities and non-governmental organizations in abroad have important responsibilities on this issue. If Universities can present projects in Western standarts and if governments can develop appropriate policies Armenian diaspora and the circles that use Armenian issue for their own interests could be discarded and the lands of Azerbaijan under Armenian occupation could be liberated.
Salih Yucel — Zaman
