Let me tell you how badly the Bush administration has gotten its knickers tied up. It’s got a war in Iraq, a nuclear threat between Iran and Syria, an ongoing struggle with Israel and Palestine, and suddenly, since a couple of weeks ago, a diplomatic crisis with NATO ally, Turkey. However, the issue with Turkey, although recently in the international spotlight, is far from a current event.

The reasons behind the United States’ most recent rift with Turkey ‘ the largely forgotten ‘Armenian Holocaust’ ‘ poses a tough trivia question to many folks around the word, particularly those who have either resided in the White House or ran the Turkish government at anytime within the past 90 years.

On Oct. 10, a House of Representatives committee voted to recognize these killings which took place between 1915 and 1917 as a genocide committed by the Ottoman Turks. The recognition was bound to absolutely infuriate officials in Ankara, who to this day refuse to acknowledge that the historic Ottoman Empire could have ever committed such a crime.

Instead, Turkish leaders would rather spend their days in office prodigality recalling ambassadors from nations that hold the understanding that massive ethnic killings carried out in systemic order are indeed a crime known as ‘genocide;’ the Turkish government would rather attempt to strong-arm the United States Congress to vote against the recognition of the Armenian genocide by threatening to kick out American forces stationed in Turkey that run many operations into Iraq.

Needless to say, such a threat has Bush administration officials doing cartwheels and handstands in a disgraceful attempt to appease Ankara, where the understanding that 70 percent of American air cargo going to Iraq has to pass through Turkish territory holds plenty of significance.

Recently the Kurdish Worker’s Party, or the PKK, has begun to step up its detonating terrorist efforts around southeastern Turkey as a part of its attempt to forge an independent Kurdish state. These attacks by Kurdish terrorists have prompted the Turks to present a threat of an invasion into the northern Kurdish-dominated region of Iraq, where most of PKK members are thought to reside.

Unfortunately, however, this region happens to be the one province of the war-torn nation that has begun to gain stability in the years following Saddam Hussein’s ouster. Long story put short: a Turkish invasion of northern Iraq is a serious blow to American efforts to stabilize the entire country.

The Bush administration appears to have gotten itself into a diplomatic mess with no quick fix at hand. While the stability of Iraq should be a foremost priority for Mr. Bush, the question is how vital is it to keep the Turks as allies throughout this process? Certainly having good relations with Ankara has proved beneficial throughout the occupation of Iraq, and surely would prove to be an asset again should a conflict with Iran ever occur, but should the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians go unrecognized, and should the thirst for independence among the Kurdish people go unquenched for the sake of Ankara’s politicos?

Or has our elected leadership in the White House lost its moral compass while playing politics?