How Do You Open A Door On The Anatolian Peninsula?

With a Tur-key!

Hah, get it?

All kidding aside, something possibly momentous has occurred in American-Turkish relations.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8550765.stm

Yeah, it is non-binding, and yeah Congress has yet to vote on it, but it's already stirred up some controversy.

Background information:
The land of Armenia had been under control of the Ottoman Empire. Being a Christian people, they were granted some rights, but not all the rights the Muslim Turks and Arabs were. World War I begins in 1914. The Ottoman Empire sided Germany and Austria-Hungary to form the Central Powers. Russia, on the north-eastern border of the empire, was part of the opposition. In 1915, several prominent Armenians were convicted of treason etc and accused of aiding the Russians (another Christian nation). This escalated to a very systematic effort to relocate and sometimes execute/massacre the Armenian population. This lasted until the later part of the decade, forcing many Armenians to run away and try and find places of refuge. The scale of the events was so comprehensive it actually caused the creation of the word "genocide". The government of the later Republic of Turkey (the Ottoman Empire dissolved very quickly thereafter) has maintained the stance that these actions were entirely military in nature and were not intended to eradicate the Armenian peoples. Similar actions were carried out to lesser extents to the other minorities on the Anatolian peninsula, notably Greeks and Assyrians, also Christian. This may have been the largest factor contributing to the Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek diasporas. The total death count has been largely disputed, but it is largely recognized as the first modern genocide, similar to the later German Holocaust. As many as 20 countries have officially called these events the Armenian Genocide.

The United States of America has to now not officially taken a stance on the events, as Turkey has been a key ally of the past fifty years. In addition to its geographic importance over the years (proximity to the Soviet Union in the past, the Middle East, specifically Iraq, now) Turkey has one of the largest militaries in the world.

That being said, the majority of the Armenian diaspora went to either Russia or the USA, and the Armenian population of America has continuously fought to have the event recognized.

Regardless of the semantics involved in naming this event, it should at least be recognized in some capacity as more than a military event. -- I really do hate semantics like this. I once got a professor started on a tirade because I mentioned the conflict in the Balkans of the 90s as a genocide, when it was really just a type of conflict. I also got him started on another tirade because I referred to the Latino section of cultures or whatever as Hispanic.

Anyways, I see this turning out one of three ways.

1. Turkey mans up and calls it a genocide, and everyone except the Turks are happy.
2. Turkey blows up a bunch of smoke in the short term, but it doesn't really mean anything and they forget about it.
3. The nation suffers a backlash and goes stronger away from secularization (which itself has two sub-outcomes)
a. The military stages another coup and restores the secular Republic of Turkey.
b. The government simply becomes Muslim, and may even attempt to establish a caliphate.

It's kind of funny how something so "non-binding" can get people really upset.

-- Knuttel