Turkey protests vote

last updated 8 January 2015

What happened

Turkey recalled its ambassador to the U.S. on Thursday to protest a congressional committee’s approval of a resolution calling World War I–era killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks genocide. Turkish President Abdullah Gul said the measures—which the Bush administration strongly opposes—“has no validity.” The next sign of its disapproval is expected to come next week when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Edrogan asks lawmakers to authorize the military to cross the border to chase Kurdish extremists into Iraq.

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“Condemning horror is important,” said Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) in the Los Angeles Times (free registraiton), but it would be tragic to do it in a way that only creates more human suffering. The U.S. can’t afford to lose Turkey’s “continued restraint with the Kurds” or its leadership “resolving the Israel-Palestine issue” over this. So let’s try moving beyond anger to “positive action”—that’s the secret to healing, and “true emancipation.”

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