Op-Ed: GW's shameful affiliations

Op-Ed: GW's shameful affiliations

Posted Wednesday, April 25 2007 01:05:01 am

By Alison Tahmizian Meuse

Editor's Note: The article this story references can be found here (http://www.dailycolonial.com/go.dc?p=3&s=4231).

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes at GW? Have you ever taken the time to look into our university’s political and financial commitments? Well I have, and I am distressed to report that the hands of our administration are filthy.

My individual awareness to such matters began when it came to the attention of the Armenian Students Network that GW holds a membership in the American Turkish Council (ATC). While the ATC has many positive goals in regards to promoting Turkish interests in the US, one of its more touchy objectives is to block the Armenian Genocide resolution in the United States Congress. As an Armenian whose grandparents were forced to flee Turkey in the face of systematic massacres and deportations, it was rather revolting to discover that my own university is a party to such an objective. President Trachtenberg is to be commended for his straightforward affirmation of the genocide; nevertheless, the university’s affiliation with the ATC derogates his individual candor. By attaching the university’s name to such a lobby, the GW administration is implicitly agreeing with all of the policies and viewpoints adopted by that council. I encourage all students, campus organizations, and faculty members to further investigate the broader issue at hand. There is no doubt that the ATC is simply one lobby group among many supported by our university.

Living in our nation’s capital has shown me the sway that Turkish lobby groups exert in America. Indeed, it is groups like the ATC that keep the Armenian Genocide out of our textbooks, despite the fact that it was not the current Turkish government which perpetrated the massacres. Even on April 24, when Armenians from around the world gather to remember the deaths of loved ones, the Turks mobilize to protest our commemoration observances. And they have that right. We are all blessed to live in a country that permits free speech; a free land where journalists do not fear for their lives and intellectuals are not jailed for insulting the state. We do not have a penal code whereby individuals are imprisoned for insulting “Americanness,” as is the case in Turkey.

I was not compelled to write this article because I am against Turkey. I have a dear friend who is Turkish, and I am in favor of Turkey’s ascension to the European Union – an ongoing process that is reforming both the government and society as a whole. Perhaps the Turkish government will never accept the term “genocide” to describe the events of the early twentieth century, but that seems unlikely given that both the European Parliament and the Council of Europe recognized the Armenian genocide years ago. The obstruction of genocide recognition in the United States cannot be attributed to a historical quandary on the veracity of the event; rather, it is a political dilemma. Turkey is a crucial ally in the region; the combination of its NATO membership, useful military bases, and positive relationship with Israel has long forced our government to skirt the issue.

http://www.dailycolonial.com/go.dc?p=3&s=4276