The country of Turkey is one of our allies, but Congress is thinking about voting on a measure based on the WWI Armenian Genocide that would hurt our relations with Turkey. The plan's details aren't set in stone, but the House believes they need to pass a plan because of the genocide Turkey committed. The article says that passing this plan would be a blow to Obama by his democrats but doesn't explain why. I believe that it is because it would further hurt his reputation because he is neglecting his allies, and that soon next month the House will be led by Republicans. Turkey warned the US that the plan's approval will jeapordize US-Turkey relations and cooperations. Another thing about Turkey is that they are going to be part of the United Nations Security Council that will vote to approve more sanctions on Iran.
I have mixed emotions about this issue. I believe that we should see what Turkey did, and make measures because of what they did. But I also think that we shouldn't hurt our relations with our foreign allies. I also believe that this happened in the past and that we should "Forgive and Forget" even though big things like genocides are hard to forget about. What do you think is best for our country? Should we approve a plan that will hurt our relations by one of our allies who did something horrible a long time ago? Would approving a plan like this be worth it?
2 comments:
Haha... When I read this, it reminded me of the Revolutionary War in a sense. Although we did fight a war versus Britain over the territory of the thirteen colonies, we eventually resolved our differences. As a result, in World War II, Britain proved to be an invaluable ally in helping us defeat Nazi Germany, Italy and Japan.
With respect to Turkey, I don't think the United States should jeopardize their relationship with Turkey because we never know when we will need their help again. Although yes, a genocide is quite inhumane, our alliance with them may prove to be useful later on if we fight other countries. Furthermore, in regards to the fact that Turkey is part of the UN Security Council, if we were to sever our relationships with Turkey, we may not be able to approve of certain actions within Iraq that may help us finally win the war.
If a genocide is happening in their country, let them resolve it. Sometimes when we get too involved into things that we should not get into (such as the Vietnam War), we may lose more than we ever intended to lose.
I don't know enough about the background of this issue to have any kind of credible opinion on it, but I'm puzzled by why Democratic members of Congress feel the need to pass a resolution that declares the Armenian killings a "genocide" in the first place. Will a simple difference in wording have a practical effect? Does calling it a genocide mean that the U.S. will formally try the people behind the Armenian kilings in court? Forgive my ignorance, but I don't understand what Congress has anything to do with this.
I also don't know how important our alliance with Turkey is to us, but if we want them to vote with us on the UN Security Council on the Iran sanctions (which is important on our national agenda, as far as I can tell), this measure probably shouldn't be passed. I can see how this is a difficult issue for Obama because he promised to declare this a genocide, but if he goes back on it and the Democratic party does not follow him, it will be more evidence that Obama cannot effectively lead his own party. This will give more power to the Republicans in the next Congress and will hurt Obama's chances for reelection.
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