In Turkey, no less. The lead quote for most reports about Obama's speech to the Turkish parliament in Ankara -- it's after the jump -- has been the president's assertion that "the United States is not at war with Islam. In fact, our partnership with the Muslim world is critical in rolling back a fringe ideology that people of all faiths reject." This is good, and true, and also something that George W. Bush said, albeit with much less credibility than Obama, who was able to cite his Muslim relatives. More interesting was his discussion of Turkey's democracy, which he casts as an achievement in self-determination that specifically rejected the interference of foreign powers. This, of course, is meaningful in the context of Turkey's occupied neighbor, Iraq, and a reminder that there was a time when the United States was known internationally as an enemy of imperialism. Part of restoring credibility abroad will be emphasizing that tradition.
Speaking of credibility, Obama made clear during the campaign that he would support efforts to recognize the Armenian genocide, a decision bound to offend Turkey. The president managed to maintain his position without actually saying the "g" word -- at a press conference he noted that "my views are on the record and I have not changed views" -- which is fine, I suppose, but does not make him an exemplar of moral courage. He did frame the issue well in the speech:
Another issue that confronts all democracies as they move to the future is how we deal with the past. The United States is still working through some of our own darker periods. Facing the Washington monument that I spoke of is a memorial to Abraham Lincoln, the man who freed those who were enslaved even after Washington led our Revolution. And our country still struggles with the legacy of our past treatment of Native Americans.
Human endeavor is by its nature imperfect. History, unresolved, can be a heavy weight. Each country must work through its past. And reckoning with the past can help us seize a better future. I know there are strong views in this chamber about the terrible events of 1915. While there has been a good deal of commentary about my views, this is really about how the Turkish and Armenian people deal with the past. And the best way forward for the Turkish and Armenian people is a process that works through the past in a way that is honest, open and constructive.
By beginning with the understanding that the U.S. has been complicit in deeply tragic events in the past, calling on Turkey to recognize the Armenian genocide becomes less of a condescending "shame on you" moment and more of a call to stand up as a mature country. And though Obama is deferring his campaign promise, doing so in order to encourage Armenian and Turkish negotiations on the topic of the genocide is a good idea. If the two nations can come together and resolve this problem in an honest way without the United States, not only will the end-result be better than if the U.S. had been a somewhat biased mediator, but it will also set aside the complex politics, both foreign and domestic, that appear whenever the U.S. becomes involved in a foreign dispute.
-- Tim Fernholz
