US President Joe Biden’s “genocide” comment does not contain any sanctions against Turkey but is important in terms of the course of relations between the two countries.
Yusuf Karataş
US President Joe Biden has announced that he recognizes the Armenian Genocide, as it has been leaked to the press earlier. This statement does not contain any sanctions against Turkey but is important in terms of the course of relations between the two countries. As it is known, the phone call that Erdogan has been waiting for since January 20, when Biden came to power, took place on April 23, and the two leaders made a decision to discuss bilateral and regional problems face to face at the NATO summit to be held in June. Therefore, the genocide decision becomes a decision taken by the United States to increase the pressure on the Erdogan government until the day of this meeting.
Before discussing the genocide decision of Biden and the possible effects of this decision on the relations between the two countries, it is necessary to draw attention to a few points regarding the genocide debate.
First of all, April 24, 1915, when the Unionists (Committee of Union and Progress), who entered the First Imperialist Sharing War alongside Germany, initiated mass arrests against Armenians in Anatolia, is accepted as the starting date of the Armenian Genocide. The Unionists, who went to war with Turanian dreams and expansionist ambitions, subjected the Armenians, who were Ottoman citizens, to deportation (forced migration) in order to consolidate the internal front, and hundreds of thousands of Armenians were massacred due to this forced migration. Children, elderly, women or sick people, and were left to die in the deserts of Deir ez-Zor, within the Syrian border today, which is designated as a settlement place, as if they were deprived of all their humanitarian needs on their migration route.
Erdogan, who needs to provoke chauvinism and nationalism in order to keep his power alive in the face of the economic crisis and political dilemmas, shows a strong reaction to the Armenian genocide decision. However, the same Erdogan admitted that “deportation caused inhuman consequences” under the name of “Armenian initiative” in 2014, when he took the role of “regional leadership” in cooperation with western imperialists. The MHP, with which Erdogan is marching together today to build a fascist regime, then described this statement as “a step towards recognizing the genocide” and accused Erdogan of betraying the Turkish nation.
Secondly, it is true that western imperialists raised the issue of the Armenian Genocide for their political calculations. USA, France or any other imperialist powers feel the need to put pressure on the government for their own political interests in Turkey puts the genocide issue on the agenda. So, for the events of 1915 to be considered as a “genocide” or not, is determined on the power relations in Turkey at that time. For example, US presidents have been using the term ‘great tragedy’ since 1993, which means ‘great disaster’ instead of ‘genocide’.
Another important point on the subject is this. The way to save this event from the abuse of the imperialists is not to deny the genocide; to confront this historical reality and to take the steps necessary for this confrontation, especially the apology. In this context, the “Recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Removing the Names of the Genocide Perpetrators from the Public Space and Making Amendments to the Turkish Citizenship Law” submitted by HDP Diyarbakır Deputy Garo Paylan to the Presidency of the Assembly is a historical opportunity for such a confrontation. However, let alone realizing such a confrontation, there is a government in the country accusing the HDP of terrorism and treason for making this motion. However, it is not possible to prevent the exploitation of the imperialists without this confrontation.
Let’s get to what messages Biden gave to the Erdogan government by recognizing the genocide decision and the possible consequences of this decision in terms of relations between the two countries…
It was known that Biden gave harsh messages to the Erdogan government when he competed with Trump for the US presidency. Despite the three month absence of a phone call from Biden, there have been no new sanctions imposed on Turkey. On the contrary, at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers held in Brussels in March, US Secretary of State Blinken has said that despite the problems experienced by Turkey, “Turkey’s anchored stay in NATO” drew attention to the importance. Following the suggestion of EU leaders, the expected US sanctions to be taken against Turkey were postponed at the summit. This is because Western imperialists (US and EU) and their sovereignty struggle against Russia and China in the East Mediterranean, Black Sea and Caucasus require them to keep Turkey by their side.
On the other hand, the S-400’s brought from Russia led to CAATSA (Law of Responding to Adversaries through Sanctions) during the Trump administration. Turkey’s Defence Industry received sanctions which came into force on April 6. When read in conjunction with these developments, the genocide decision of Biden shows that the US administration has followed a policy of not missing the pressure, while allowing time for the Erdogan government to connect to its own political axis. We will see the consequences of this policy after Biden and Erdogan’s face-to-face meeting at the NATO summit in June.
The influence of the US domestic public opinion in Biden’s making such a decision should not be denied. Because, in a considerable part of the US public opinion, a reaction against the Erdogan government has been formed due to the interventions made against the Syrian Kurds in the region and the attitude that interrupted the fight against ISIS. In connection with this reaction, it should be reminded that in 2019, both the US Senate and the US House of Representatives made decisions recognizing the genocide. As a result, Biden, who promised to recognize the genocide during the election process, has fulfilled the expectations of the US domestic public by using the expression genocide.
Despite their harsh reactions to the genocide statement, there is no doubt that the representatives of the Erdogan government were sincerely happy with this decision and rubbed their hands. We can already say that the government, which is very stuck in issues such as the economic crisis, the failure to combat the pandemic, and the corruption surrounding the government, will do its best to turn this decision into an opportunity to provoke nationalism and chauvinism in order to take a breath. Moreover, in such processes, the bourgeois opposition also siding with the power, making the work of the government much easier.
As a result, the genocide resolution clearly shows us the reality once again: The struggle against imperialists who use the pain of the peoples hypocritically for their own interests for democracy in the country and peace in the region, and the collaborator country reaction are inseparably intertwined.
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