Update: Armenian Genocide Resolution

If you read my last post on this, the US Congress is considering passing a resolution that the death of several hundred thousand Armenians at Ottoman hands was a genocide. Turkey, of course, is upset by that. You can read an update on the situation here. Basically, they don't want the resolution to pass, and the White House is on their side. Turkey is threatening us economically if this bill passes.

Armenian Genocide?

For those of you not aware of this topic, in the early part of the 20th century a very large number of Armenians were killed, probably around 600,000. Now, according to Turkey, this was not a genocide. The Armenians were fighting against the Ottomans Turks and the Turks fought back, and 600,000 Armenians were killed or starved to death. I'm not completely sure what the true story is, but I do know a lot of Armenians died. You generally hear this referred to as the Armenian Genocide. To quote www.dictionary.com: a genocide is "the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group." So, the Turks don't like this talk of a genocide. There's currently a resolution in the House of Representatives about the Armenian Genocide, and Turkey does not want it to pass. They say it will mess up US-Turkey relations. Is this a big deal? Possibly. After all, we're talking about a country that prosecutes its most famous writers for "insulting the Turkish nation." And with US cachet being at a very big low, the last thing we can afford is to lose Turkey. After all, it's right next to Iraq, and we have a base there. So this might get interesting.