Turkey hopes to deter Obama from using 'G-word'
April 17, 2015
Pope Francis’ sermon at St. Peter's Basilica, where he spoke of the 1915 events that took the lives of hundreds of thousands of Ottoman Armenians, was expected to be the precursor for Western governments. The speculation (and the Turkish government's concern) is focused on the United States. April 24 is the centenary and Francis seemed to allow for many to follow. But every year on the anniversary of the alleged Armenian genocide, US President Barack Obama has refrained from uttering “the G-word.” He has preferred the Armenian words “Metz Yeghern” (Great Calamity) that were used by Armenians before the UN Genocide Convention of 1948.
The European Parliament may have to come to the rescue of Obama, seemingly squeezed between a moral obligation and the imperatives of foreign policy driven by national interest and the commitments of an international coalition leader in a volatile region of the Middle East. After all, Turkey is a NATO ally and despite its divergence on crucial issues with Washington, it is much too valuable an asset to alienate.
A nervous Turkish leadership already extremely hostile to the Armenian genocide debate may not be on Obama’s agenda for confrontation. He is too occupied with keeping the Sunni discontent with the Iranian nuclear deal in line, led by Saudi Arabia. He may see no benefit in opening another regional front with NATO ally Turkey and not repeating the “Metz Yeghern” this year, and following the pope's lead.
It is exactly in this sense that the European Parliament’s resolution invited, and therefore infuriated, Turkey to recognize the 1915 Armenian calamity as genocide, and may have provided an out for Obama to avoid saying the “G-word.”
Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/04/turkey-armenia-fighting-the-eu-order-deter-obama.html#ixzz3XlIuDlBR