Armenian Genocide: Israel Afraid of Turkey?

• 07.16.2015, 11:36
•  Near East,  World,  Armenia

The recognition of the Armenian Genocide has systematically been discussed in Israel, but no results so far. On the eve of the Centennial of Genocide these discussions became more and with that inertia the country continues speaking about its "moral obligations."

This time it was the Speaker of Knesset, who raised the question, expressing hope that coalition and opposition will cooperate on a number of issues, including the Armenian Genocide. As armeniangenocide100.org writes, Edelstein declared that the fact that Israel has still not recognized the Genocide, is not because of Turkey. He also added that his position for the importance of recognizing the Armenian Genocide is not coordinated by the government. "The Armenians are not our greatest friends. They never vote with us in the UN. I don’t expect anything in return; this is not a political decision," he explained.

Earlier Edelstein has also talked about the need to recognize the atrocities committed against the Armenians in 1915 by the Ottoman Turkey. "I visited one of the Armenian memorial sites and it is very hard to ignore what I saw there. I expect that I and the Knesset behave appropriately so that we can make decisions according to the moral standards of a democratic state," The Jerusalem Post quotes Edelstein's words.  He also added that he will do his best to promote the issue, expressing a hope that when the true time for voting comes, the Members of Knesset would know how to vote.
Israel's Education, Culture and Sport Committee chairman Ya'acov Margi also referring to the issue declared that ignoring the Armenian Genocide threatens other genocides to happen. "We want to be in the international arena with countries that respect morals. Israel, the state of the Jewish People, must recognize what happened to the Armenians. Nothing will change in our relations with Turkey or Azerbaijan," Margi said.
Though the Speaker of Knesset declares that not recognizing the Armenian Genocide by Israel is nothing to do with Turkey, it is more than obvious that Israel cannot ignore and will not ignore its interests and will not jeopardize its security for the sake of Armenia – a country, with which it has good relations, but not big interest towards it. This, however, does not mean that we - Armenians and our government should take it for granted. A country, that knows what a massacre of a whole nation means, has no right to yield to its political interests...