For the first time Turkey is acting calmly
Now, what is done is done and the expected result has come out. A rare vase has been broken to pieces.
The bill passed in France is of an entirely political nature. Regardless of how harsh a reaction we may show and how much we condemn it or drag them through the mud, Sarkozy got what he wanted.
He both prevented the Armenian votes going to the Socialists before the elections, and he also winked to the extreme right votes as a president who stands against Turkey. Also, meanwhile, he has blocked Ankara’s road to the European Union even more. In other words, he has hit more than one bird – within the framework of his own politics – with one stone.
I’m sure it caught your attention during the discussions in the French Parliament’s Lower House and Senate. Almost all speakers have accepted the “genocide” has happened and that Turkey is responsible. Nobody took the floor and said anything against this. This is the perception that we are failing to notice. Not only France, unfortunately, but the entire international public has accepted we committed “genocide.” What are being discussed now are those matters related to how this is going to be punished.
2015 is a very important year for Armenians. According to them, it is the 100th anniversary of the “genocide,” by that date the whole world has to accept the “genocide,” Turkey should be blamed and punished. Well, this is also a really important date from our point of view.
The reactions we are going to show today and the steps we are going to take today should be configured with 2015 in mind; we should do our calculations as such. Our reactions will be perceived as clues to our future reactions.
Overreacting will isolate us, will make us look unjust and will self-inflict wounds.
Let us not forget, tomorrow is the United States’ turn. Maybe, the next day Germany or Spain will join this convoy. We should be calculating now what we will do then.
As I see this thin road in front of us, I think Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s reaction yesterday was very healthy. I believe it is much more correct to act calmly instead of shouting and storming, instead of deciding on embargoes that would damage our own selves.
Of course there will be reactions and measures will come, but the attitude should be “European.”
Rubbish reactions only belittle us
My biggest fear is those municipalities, political party branches, nongovernmental organizations and associations, etc., who would ignore the prime minister’s calm attitude and go their own way.
We have seen such scenes before: They take to the streets; they march to French missions with flags and black wreaths in their hands; they burn flags, step on them frantically and swear ugly. The leather smiths, who want to outshine the butchers’ association, together with such and so union also take to the streets and a competition starts. When municipalities get involved, the situation becomes calamitous.
Changing of street names, even though the Algerians oppose, erecting Algerian statues… More strangely, such “reactions” were experienced, as it has happened recently, as sending inspectors to French schools.
As Yalım Eralp in CNN Türk said yesterday, reacting by yelling a lot, after a certain point, makes us lose credibility among the international public. We never thought about it before. We used to do shows for internal use.
Because of these reasons, the prime minister’s general approach to the matter was absolutely correct.
