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Bruce Fein: These are kinds of competing interests â€“ it is wrong to call them conflicts

01 December 2009 13:28 (UTC +04:00)

Washington. Isabel Levine â€“ APA. APAâ€™s interview with Bruce Fein, resident scholar of Turkish Coalition of America, in Washington, DC

- After the normalization process between Armenia and Turkey started are there any problems or conflicts between Azeri and Turkish Diasporas in US? What are the dangers?

- I donâ€™t think there are any conflicts between our two Diasporas. I know that there are in tension, simply because Turkey is not Azerbaijan and wise or worse. At least one area that I know, has been raised as a possible point of some difference of opinion is Nagorno-Karabakh. And some leverages in supporting the peaceful resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh and the eviction of the illegal occupation by the Armenians because they are pushing the opening of borders trying to history about the World War One. These kinds of competing interests â€“ it is wrong to call them conflicts, I think itâ€™s just that countries donâ€™t have permanent friends or enemies they have permanent interests. I think the Turkish Prime Minister made it quite clear that he will not sell out on Nagorno-Karabakh simply to capitulate or whatever the Armenians may demand. So I wouldnâ€™t they that a conflict, I think often times you make coward if you will and that means that you need greater focus on making the policies working out a harmony for one another. And I think that is what happened. I donâ€™t think that the fact that Turkey is working on opening the borders with Armenia means anyhow that Turkey feels less disturbed about the illegal occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh.

- Despite the normalization between the two countries, Armenian Diaspora is continuing its activities against Turkey - they send letters to Congress, again raise the "genocide issue". And Senator McCain also said that the "genocide" truly happenedâ€¦

- Remember that Armenian government is not identical to the Armenian Diaspora. To some degree the government in Armenia in Erevan has to listen to the Diaspora, because maybe one third of its budget is formed on either the remittances or the donations from the Diaspora. It would be fair to say from recent years that the Diaspora is far more hateful and aggressive about that whole issue than the government itself. But I wouldnâ€™t say that the Armenian Diaspora has been acting with any difference than it had done for a long, long time. And I am guardedly optimistic, that it will not be able to hold the government in Erevan as a hostage here against the kind of reconciliation and approach that makes senses to let the idea of the international commission to examine all the archives and evidence relating to the World War One events, and make their own characterization of the events without the outside non-educated influences. Now, coming to Senator McCain, we all know that issues of genocide are up to lawyers and historians. Senator McCain isnâ€™t a historian and isnâ€™t a lawyer, and itâ€™s unfortunate that politicians including Mr. McCain and his instances decided for political reasons to go away beyond this paycrade and made this characterization. Remember McCain was also the one who misstated in his presidential campaign that this is a Judie Christian Nation, when in fact religion is not part of politics according to Constitution.

- What can the Turkish Diaspora do to help Azerbaijani Diaspora lobby such issues as Nagorno-Karabakh and others in the US Congress?

- I think the main advantage of such experience that Turkish Diaspora has, giving tips on this is how you try to influence the members of Congress, what are the kind of arguments that would appeal to them, how would you use the local media â€“ these kinds of customary tools that open democracies operate are something that Turkish Diaspora can explain, you know, this is how you do politics in the United States. Maybe the right thing will be pitching out joint sessions of Azerbaijani and Turkish Diasporas; I think that might be the right thing.