Bryza: "Freer speech best answer to 'genocide' lobby abroad"

"Deep introspection was the best way to honor victims of the episode  and to prevent a recurrence of future," according to Matthew Bryza, deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs. In an interview with Today's Zaman in Istanbul, he said that a resolution of Congress would simply lead to a retrenchment inside Turkey and a hardening of attitudes that would make internal discussion more difficult.

He called for widespread debate on the issue among philosophers, archival historians and ordinary people and cited the popular wave of sympathy for the murdered Armenian editor Hrant Dink as evidence that many in Turkey wished to achieve a reconciliation with their past. A resolution of Congress would "kill that process," he said.

At the same time he suggested that it was impossible to convince the outside world that Turkey could engage in a "candid and heartfelt discussion" while people who spoke their minds were being prosecuted. "Article 301 has to go away," he said. This is the clause of the Turkish penal code making it an offense to "insult Turkishness" under which Dink was successfully prosecuted.

Bryza was in Istanbul attending a US-Turkey economic partnership commission as a member of a trade and energy delegation which has been touring the wider region. Thursday's meeting was the first convening of the commission in over three years. It occurred at a time when the Turkish foreign minister is in the US and appears part of a mutual charm offensive to restore relations badly strained by events in Iraq.

Those events, in particular the March 1, 2003 vote of the Turkish Parliament's  which denied a US invasion force the right to transit through Turkey, still colored Washington's view of Turkey, Bryza confessed. This was despite, he said, the current logistic support that Turkey now provides. Incirlik Air Base is the major transport hub for the US forces and many ordinary Iraqis rely on the Turkish border crossing at Habur for food, fuel and even water.

Ankara by, contrast, is concerned that the current insurrection in Iraq will result in the break-up of that state and the creation of an independent Kurdish north that will stimulate insurrection inside Turkey itself. Bryza repeated the US commitment to Iraq's territorial integrity and addressed concerns that that the meltdown of central authority in Baghdad was allowing the anti-Turkish Kurdish separatists free reign.

He said the US acknowledged that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was "the most significant threat to Turkish national security" but that even the Turkish army -- "the most capable in Europe" and which had troops operating in northern Iraq -- understood that force alone could not fix the problem.

Even so, Bryza sought to correct the record that the US was in any way urging Turkey to be patient. He said that Joseph Ralston, the retired US general and special envoy for countering the PKK, understood the urgency of the problem and was "bringing together the pieces" and that concrete results could be expected soon.

Differences between Ankara and Washington over Iran were "more philosophical" than substantive, according to Bryza. Neither party wanted to see a Tehran in possession of nuclear weapons. He agreed that Turkey was still hoping to lure Iran into dialogue about its international responsibilities; whereas the US believed sanctions were unavoidable. Force was not the solution, however. "I have never had a conversation about preparing for a military operation in Iran," he said. Today's Zaman