Denial Dilemma
Knollenberg presses for U.S. recognition ofArmenian holocaust
by the Turks — allies of Israel and America.
HOWARD LOVY
Copy Editor
oseph Knollenberg leaned back in his chair in
his Farmington Hills office recently and quietly,
calmly rattled off his credentials as a longtime
supporter of Israel and other Jewish causes.
But the U.S. reprensentative's Jewish constituents
might want to pay attention to another issue dear to
the fifth-term Republican from Oakland County:
Holocaust denial.
That's Armenian holocaust denial.
It's an issue that places many Jews in an awkward
position because the main source of this denial is
Turkey, an ally of Israel.
Knollenberg is co-chairman of the bipartisan
House Caucus on Armenian Issues. When the sub-
ject turned to the issue of world recognition of the
Armenian genocide of 1915, Knollenberg leaned
forward in his chair and told a story
"I'll tell you a story about (Heydar) Aliyev, who's
the president of Azerbaijan. I was over there,"
Knollenberg said. "I mean, you don't know what
depravity is until you get into some places in that
part of the world, which is the old Soviet empire."
Aliyev, he said, shook his head and appeared baf-
fled as to how, during a visit to Washington in 1997,
President Clinton could roll out the red carpet for
him while Congress was passing resolutions in sup-
port of his people's mortal enemies, the Armenians.
For Aliyev, it didn't sink in until later that, in a
democracy, contrasting views exist between the
Congress and the president.
"I think Aliyev learned that Congress has some-
thing to say about this, too," Knollenberg said.
In Congress, Knollenberg has had plenty to say
about it. He has risen numerous times to speak
about the Armenian genocide and the need for the
United States to acknowledge that it occurred.
Turkey, during a 1915-1923 campaign to force
Armenians out of eastern Turkey, slaughtered some
1.5 million people. While Turkey admits that hun-
dreds of thousands of Armenians were killed during
the war, it insists it did not amount to genocide and
that atrocities happened on both sides.
Most historians, however, agree the Turks did set
out to systematically slaughter Armenians. The rea-
son for the controversy today is largely geopolitical:
Turkey is a NATO ally of the United States.
The issue can be confusing to a supporter of Israel
because modern Turkey, which still denies the geno-
cide took place, is now a military ally of Israel. This
has created a dilemma for Jewish leaders who do not
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want to let any form of Holocaust denial take root,
but who also do not want to openly jeopardize
Israel's strategic alliance with Turkey.
Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel
pulled out of a 1982 conference on the Holocaust
and genocide because the Israeli government did not
want the Armenian case brought up. Since then,
however, Wiesel has modified his stance and last year
was one of 126 Holocaust scholars to sign his name
to a half-page New York Times advertisement calling
on Western Democracies to urge Turkey to recognize
the Armenian genocide.
"I recognize the Turks have some displeasure,"
Knollenberg said. "They don't like to be advised or
reminded of that and that their story is a different
one than the accounts that most of the world is will-
ing to accept — that there was indeed a genocide."
During the closing days of the 106th Congress,
Knollenberg blasted President Clinton for requesting
the House withdraw a resolution acknowledging the
Armenian genocide. He accused Clinton of caving to
pressure from Turkey.
Knollenberg said, however, that he is optimistic the
United States will eventually follow France's lead in its
recent recognition of the genocide. He also sees hope
in overtures being made between Armenia and Turkey
"Turkey would like to be admitted to the
European Union. The European Union has always
said, 'You're going to have to clean up your act when
it comes to human rights violations.' "
Pro-Israel Record
Knollenberg, a member of the House subcommittee
on foreign operations, also has earned a reputation
as a fighter for Israel.
Last year, he helped lead a battle in Congress
against an attempt by Rep. Sonny Callahan, R-Ala.,
to block and delay aid to the Jewish state in response
to Israel's then-planned sale of an airborne early-warn-
ing system to China.
Knollenberg does not see any similar battles brewing
for this legislative season.
"I think there's enough dust that's blown over now
that we can look at it," he said. "I think Sonny had a
right to challenge that sale and of course the Israelis,
themselves, came before our committee and admit-
ted that, yeah, it is something they were sensitive to.
But Sonny didn't win that argument."
He said that Rep Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., who replaced
Callahan as the head of the committee, is just corn-
ing to grips with his assignment, but he believes that
aid to Israel is still secure.
He added, however, that much of the foreign-poli-
cy agenda has yet to be set by President Bush.
"I would say, 'Stay tuned' on a lot of this. Until he
actually speaks on the whole issue of foreign policy, I
think that, even as members of the same party in
Congress, we don't have a good grip on where he
wants to take us on this," he said. "Then the chal-
lenges will come."
Knollenberg also weighed in on other issues:
• U.S. embassy in Israel: President Bush, during the
election campaign, had supported moving the U.S.
Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Knollenberg,
however, does not see that happening anytime soon
because he believes the status of Jerusalem should first
be decided by the Israelis and Palestinians.
"There hasn't been an administration in, what,
decades, that believed we should do anything but
keep it as it is, even with members of Congress that
would support moving it tomorrow," Knollenberg
said. "So I think that's a debate item that should
occur at the end of the line, not at the beginning."
• On Pollard: Knollenberg is opposed to any
release of Jonathan Pollard, a former U.S. Navy
intelligence officer who has been serving a life sen-
tence since 1987 for spying for Israel. Many Jewish
leaders believe his sentence was too harsh and have
been pushing for a presidential pardon.
• On Russian arms sales to Iran: Knollenberg has
urged reduction in aid to Russia until it stops selling
sensitive military equipment and technology to Iran.
Israeli leaders have long -said that the greatest danger in
the Mideast comes not from the Palestinians or Israel's
immediate Arab neighbors, but from rogue states like
Iran or Iraq obtaining nuclear technology.
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Rep. Joseph Knollenberg will address the
question, "What Next for the U.S.-Israel
Relationship?" at a community forum on
Sunday, March 4, at 10 a.m. at the Sarah and
Ralph Davidson Hadassah House, 5030
Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield.