US President Joe Biden gave the Armenian diaspora what they wanted with the genocide declaration on April 24th. With this step, he strengthened his hand inside. He prevented a possible crisis not only in the eyes of the diaspora, but also with the Senate, with the call to recognize the "Armenian genocide" allegations written by 38 senators after he took office. Of course, high blood pressure with Turkey in recent years made it easier for him to take this decision. With this recognition, which Republicans, who were expected to be hawks, did not dare, the US-Turkey relations entered a different period. If it is said that nothing will be the same after this time, it is appropriate. Syria, Libya, Eastern Mediterranean,
While important problems such as the S-400s, F-35 and Halkbank stand in the middle, the fact that the so-called genocide allegations have been recognized has made the course of the next relations even more complicated.
Now the curious questions are; What will happen at the NATO summit in June? Why did President Erdoğan refer to that meeting? At the same time, what is the expected benefit from the low tone of the President's statement in response to Biden? The answers to these questions are still not fully convinced by the public, and the curiosity about this approach has not yet been resolved.
However, there is no doubt that Biden acted politically in this process, but why did Turkey act as if it only gave a history lesson? As İlber Ortaylı said, this issue is no longer the responsibility of historians and has turned into a topic that lawyers should be interested in. The main reason why Turkey's call to open the archives to everyone's scrutiny has not been met by the interlocutors until this time is their purely political approach to the issue. When it is not a problem to eat grapes, they act with the ease of choosing to target the vineyard. They do not hesitate to exhibit their double-standard approach in this regard as well.
On the other hand, Turkey often tries to work through lobbying companies both with the so-called Armenian Genocide allegations and other problems it faces. Often, the amounts transferred to these lobbying companies lead to writing on water. Experiences in the Armenian issue over the years showed that lobbying activities did not do much. In the meantime, according to the news of the Foreign Lobby site in the USA, the PYD / YPG has made an agreement with the firm named Jim Dornan Strategies to carry out lobbying activities. But the striking point here is that according to this agreement, the fight of the PYD / YPG against ISIS will be highlighted. In other words, the perception of local and legitimate power fighting against Daesh in the eyes of the US public opinion would be supported. Although the PYD / YPG did not need such a lobbying activity. The American state has stood behind them in every aspect until this time, and continues to do so. It seems very meaningful that this initiative of the PYD / YPG emerged after the US decision to recognize the genocide.
In this process, it has emerged once again that the USA is following the developments in Turkey very closely. The meeting, which did not take place since Biden took office on January 20, was deliberately set just before April 24, thus aiming to control the reaction of France. In fact, they were successful in this. They took a pulse and it should be kept in mind that this may be a reason for the low tone in the statements made. If you have a nail, we have a proverb called scratch your head. Regardless, it is not too late for Turkey. In order to explain ourselves to the world public opinion in the legal field, we need a road map that includes short and long term plans. Special, point-to-shoot work needs to be done. It is imperative to include socio-cultural activities in addition to the initiatives made by states. Wouldn't it be more effective than the others if very high quality motion pictures were made with one tenth of the money given to the lobby?
In the end, whatever our problem is right after the emergence of it, Turkey is the strongest hand here. The important thing is to reflect this power on the field. If one moves with the concern of constantly giving inward messages, there will be no result. In other words, it is necessary to go beyond the goal of convincing the domestic public. Now is the time to concentrate on this subject again, with patience and restraint.