1905) Armenian Retreat

ATMG's opposition to most American-Armenians stem from their blind hatred for everything Turkish. We have always considered those Turkish-Armenians who pledge allegiance to Republic of Turkiye as our dearest friends. The purpose of publishing the following article is to draw attention to the plots devised by enemies of Turkiye. We hope this will not offend . . our Armenian friends(Editor).

Jewish Lobby Pledges All-Out Support For Turkey and Azerbaijan in Congress

Harut Sassounian, California Courier On-Line, Aug. 5, 1999

Representatives of the Jewish lobby made a public pledge last week to do everything in their power to help enact pro-Azeri and pro-Turkish legislation and counter Armenian and Greek initiatives in the U.S. Congress. This chilling disclosure was printed in the July 28 and 29 issues of the Turkish Daily News. Reporter Yasemin Dobra-Manco wrote a lengthy two-part article after speaking with Barry Jacobs, the assistant director of the American Jewish Committee and Daniel Mariaschin, the director of the B'nai B'rith International Center for Public Policy.

While it does not come as a surprise to us that several Jewish-American groups have been lobbying in favour of Turkey and Azerbaijan for some time, the remarks made by Jacobs and Mariaschin come close to a declaration of lobbying war against the interests of Armenia and Karabagh.

Mariaschin told the Turkish Daily News that there are a number of Jewish-American groups that have "U.S-Turkish and Turkish- Israeli relations high on their agenda." The article lists the following organisations as playing "an increasingly active role in the advocacy of Turkish positions on many issues in the United States: The American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress, the Anti-Defamation League, B'nai B'rith, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations, and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs."

Recently, both Jacobs and Mariaschin travelled to Istanbul and Ankara to explain "the unique role" their "organisations can play in the lobbying process in the United States." Even though Jacobs and a Jewish-American delegation also visited Armenia and Karabagh, in addition to Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, we are not fooled by their show of seeming even-handedness. They had made a firm decision to support the Turks and the Azeris long before their "fact-finding" trip.

Mariaschin tries to explain to the Turkish readers why the lifting of the ban on aid to Azerbaijan "narrowly" failed in the Senate despite the support of "10 major American- Jewish organisations backing the effort."

He blames it on the "strong opposition by Armenian-American groups." But, fearing that the Turks may get disillusioned with a Jewish lobby that repeatedly fails to deliver the goods, Mariaschin promises that the "pressure to pass it will be continued during the next session of Congress."

Mariaschin discloses that "Jewish groups are now addressing an expanded agenda of issues," including support for the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline and Turkey's entry into the European Union. He expresses his regret that "the major humanitarian role Turkey played [in the Kosovo conflict] received little appreciation in the media."

In Part II of the article, Jacobs pledges that Jewish organisations will "take an active and vigorous role in being friends of Turkey in the United States.... We will champion to the best of our ability Turkish interests in the U.S. Congress. We will be Turkey's friends officially in Congress" and work to help get favourable legislation passed.

Trying to extract more from the Turks in return for Jewish support, Jacobs tells the newspaper that the Jewish groups' support for Turkey "has brought us into open conflict with Greek-Americans and Armenian-Americans. It has been welcomed by the Turkish government, but we have paid a price. The price has been that we have the Greek and Armenian- Americans very angry at us."

Jacobs gives as an example the criticism that Jewish groups received following the placement of an ad in the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune to congratulate the Turkish Republic's 75th anniversary. Jacobs admits that many Jews who are members of his group questioned, "why are we supporting Turkey which has a terrible human rights record?"

In trying to minimise the failure of the Jewish groups to lift the ban on aid to Azerbaijan, he calls Section 907 "largely symbolic." He then contradicts himself by disclosing that because of Section 907, Israel's Overseas Development Program cannot send Israeli technicians to Azerbaijan, ,since the Program receives funds from the U.S. government.

Jacobs states that "it is unfair to single out Azerbaijan, a pro-western and pro-NATO country that has diplomatic relations with Israel." Acting as a mouthpiece for Baku, Jacobs says that Armenian forces with the backing of Russia, occupy 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory and have created 1 million in internally displaced persons. Therefore, he explained, the organized American-Jewish community has come to the conclusion that it is wrong to further victimise Azerbaijan."

Ignoring the fact that Turkey has hired the best U.S. lobbying firms that money can buy, Jacobs says that the Turkish lobby in the United States is "very small, unorganised and almost non-existent, while Turks in general failed to understand the modern lobbying process." His implied message is: Ignorant and badly organised Turks desperately need Jewish help." Jacobs also conveniently fails to mention that the entire U.S. government, including the White House, the State and Defence departments, has acted as a giant Turkish lobby for the past 50 years.

Speaking as if he were a Turkish agent, Jacobs makes the following shameless declaration: "We want to work with your Embassy in Washington, the Turkish-American community and Turkey's many friends and win our battles on Capitol Hill. We want the American people and our leaders to understand what Turkey and its citizens have accomplished. We want our media to accurately reflect Turkey's importance and achievements. We don't want those who are not friends of Turkey to have the means to use human rights or other issues against your interests."

Up until now, Armenians have treated these Jewish groups with kid gloves, hoping for an eventual reconciliation with them. After these strident remarks, it is clear that they have foreclosed any possibility of friendly relations with the Armenian community. There is no doubt in my mind that these Jewish groups, having gotten their marching orders from Israel, have made a firm and final decision to side with the tyrants of Turkey and the barbarians of Baku against the defenceless Armenians struggling for their survival.

To counter the combined threat from Turkey, Israel and Azerbaijan, Armenians will have no choice but to form an alliance with Palestinians, Kurds, Syrians, Iraqis, Iranians, Serbs, Greeks and Greek-Cypriots.

Rather than begging for mercy, it's time to fight back!

http://www.karabakh-doc.azerall.info/ru/