2008 Woodie Awards
U.S. relations with Middle Eastern ally jeopardized
Jodi Hughes & Sarah Kate Boltz
Issue date: 10/31/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 3 next >
Recently, the United States has been involved in a political dispute regarding the mass killings of Armenians 92 years ago in the Ottoman Empire, now Turkey.
"Students have a lot of questions and don't understand (what is going on in Turkey). They need to get information from somewhere, and the media has not been focusing on much of this," political science professor Andrew Konitzer said.
Turkey is one of the few allies of the U.S. in the Middle East. If the U.S. decides to be the "24th country to officially acknowledge" the killings as a genocide our relations with Turkey will be seriously damaged, according to TIME magazine.
"Why would we further damage our relations (with Turkey)?" Abbey Woodruff, senior international relations major, said. "Our foreign relations are bad enough."
The issue is complex because the U.S. must decide whether or not to risk its relationship with Turkey in order to make the point that the U.S. will not tolerate genocide.
According to TIME, "some 70 percent of U.S. air cargo en route to Iraq passes through Turkey, as does about one-third of the fuel used by the U.S. military there." This U.S. air base is crucial to the American presence in Iraq because it is the only American air base in the Middle East.
"I think it would be a mistake if they push the genocide issue too hard (on Turkey) right now," Konitzer said. "We're in a war against terrorism. A statement on genocide is going to harm that."
Amanda Slevin, senior communication studies major who lived in Turkey this past summer, said that the U.S. relationship with Turkey is too important for the U.S. to further offend.
"Supporting the Armenian claims of genocide would be extremely detrimental to US-Turkish relations-our only ally in that area of the world. This is an issue to be discussed by historians, not U.S. lawmakers. Already, even though the bill was not completed, our relationship with (Turkey) has been compromised," Slevin said.
"Students have a lot of questions and don't understand (what is going on in Turkey). They need to get information from somewhere, and the media has not been focusing on much of this," political science professor Andrew Konitzer said.
Turkey is one of the few allies of the U.S. in the Middle East. If the U.S. decides to be the "24th country to officially acknowledge" the killings as a genocide our relations with Turkey will be seriously damaged, according to TIME magazine.
"Why would we further damage our relations (with Turkey)?" Abbey Woodruff, senior international relations major, said. "Our foreign relations are bad enough."
The issue is complex because the U.S. must decide whether or not to risk its relationship with Turkey in order to make the point that the U.S. will not tolerate genocide.
According to TIME, "some 70 percent of U.S. air cargo en route to Iraq passes through Turkey, as does about one-third of the fuel used by the U.S. military there." This U.S. air base is crucial to the American presence in Iraq because it is the only American air base in the Middle East.
"I think it would be a mistake if they push the genocide issue too hard (on Turkey) right now," Konitzer said. "We're in a war against terrorism. A statement on genocide is going to harm that."
Amanda Slevin, senior communication studies major who lived in Turkey this past summer, said that the U.S. relationship with Turkey is too important for the U.S. to further offend.
"Supporting the Armenian claims of genocide would be extremely detrimental to US-Turkish relations-our only ally in that area of the world. This is an issue to be discussed by historians, not U.S. lawmakers. Already, even though the bill was not completed, our relationship with (Turkey) has been compromised," Slevin said.