Actually, Badtux, the French would claim that the Normans were, in fact, originally invaders from Scandinavia, and, therefore the claim should be made against Sweden et al.

Nationalism is alive and festering in the world.

I mean, c’mon. Acknowledging that a genocide happened in the past is one thing, but to go from there to saying that a nation that doesn’t even have its capital in the same city as the long-defunct Ottoman Empire is responsible for said genocide and should thus pay reparations is something else entirely. Modern-day secular Turkey is no more the same nation as the defunct Islamist Ottoman Empire than modern-day Russia is the same nation as the defunct Soviet Union.

– Badtux the Snarky Penguin

It is quite simple, really: It doesn’t end there.

“After opening remarks by Prof. Richard H. Dekmejian, Director of the Institute, Sarkis Bezelgues, an international lawyer and doctoral candidatein law at the Free University of Berlin, presented a paper on “International Liability and State Succession: the Responsibility of the Turkish Republic for the Armenian Genocide.” He stated that the Republic of Turkey is liable for themassive deaths and destruction inflicted upon the Armenian population, because the modern state of Turkey is a continuation and not the successor to the Ottoman Empire. According to Bezelgues, Turkey can be held responsible for the Armenian Genocide since a complete transmission took place of the Ottoman Empire’s rights and duties.”

http://aramanoogian.blogspot.com/2007/09/legal-remedies-in-claiming-restitution.html

And these duties are?

Restitution, reparations and more…

http://www.anca.org/press_releases/press_releases.php?prid=758

More of what?

1. Armenia wants all EU member states to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide during WW1 as crime against humanity.

2. Armenia wants EU to investigate the transfer of monetary funds owned by Ottoman citizens of Armenian origin to European banks and their return to the heirs of the survivors of the genocide.

3. Armenia wants NATO and EU to enforce the legality of Sevres treaty on Turkey before any membership talks.

4. Armenia wants restitution of all possessions (movable and immovable) on the territory of Republic of Turkey that were confiscated and/or in other ways disposed by the successive Turkish governments during and after the Genocide.

5. Armenia wants Turkey to acknowledge and apologize for the Genocide to all Christian subjects in the Ottoman Empire and make the necessary amends in her history books.

6. Armenia wants Turkey to return confiscated historical relics with religious or historical value to Armenia.

7. Armenia wants Turkey to liberalize her laws about the cultural and religious rights of the minorities including their right to cultural autonomy and self determination without any cohesion from the government.

8. Armenia wants Germany and other contracting parties to the Sevres treaty to adhere to the norms and the spirit of the international law.

9. Armenia wants special visa regulations with EU member states for Armenian citizens due to the blockade imposed by Turkey (a candidate member state) and privileged work permit regime for citizens of Armenia wiling to work in EU countries.

You are all a little more informed now, no?

If they negotiated there wouldn’t have been a North Korean nuclear test, there wouldn’t be a stand off with Iran, there wouldn’t be tension with Syria, Putin and China wouldn’t be spending billions to update their military, there wouldn’t be an occupation of Iraq.

If Congress thinks that this will force Bush to negotiate, they are brain-dead or have been asleep for the past seven years. They will blame future problems on the Democrats losing Turkey. It is a cheap excuse with some truth. The Hedgemony don’t care about solving problems, they just want someone else to take the blame.

a) a backdoor way to shut down the Iraq War, or

2) a thorn in the side of Bush’s war plan that can be used as leverage to compel Bush to concede something in return for Pelosi backing off?

but i thought one of the problems with the new somewhat-more-islamist government in turkey is that they are daring to question ataturk, at least in its somewhat-more-islamist views.

If this is about borders, the Armenians need to take that up with the Bolsheviks, who were replaced by the Soviets, who were replaced by the current government, because the borders were established by treaty. First, though, the Armenians need to start negotiating with the Azeri over their borders and see if something can’t be done about the continuing cycle of violence that continues over Nagorno-Karabakh.

If that area was so important, the Armenians should have said something when the Soviet Union was devolving, instead of turning to violence after the lines were drawn.

If the Armenians are pushing to change borders, they can forget it. The borders were established by Ataturk, and nothing Ataturk did can be questioned in Turkey.