The Bush Administration is hardly the first ally of Turkey that has chosen to publicly remain silent on the reality of the Armenian genocide. As the state secretary of the German Imperial Budget Committee stated while the horror was ongoing:
As much as we lament the lot of the Armenians from a purely human standpoint, we must think first of our sons and brothers who are having to shed their precious blood in the fiercest battles and who are partly dependent on the support of the Turks.
And here’s what Condaleeza Rice had to say:
This is not to ignore what was a really terrible situation, and we recognize the feelings of those who want to express their concern and their disdain for what happened many years ago. But the passage of this resolution at this time would indeed be very problematic for everything that we're trying to do in the Middle East, because we are very dependent on a good Turkish strategic ally to help with our efforts.
The German quote comes from notes taken at a September 29, 1916 meeting that makes it clear that the German government was well aware of what was taking place and did try to dissuade the Turkish government, to no avail. As in 2007, the Turkish government in 1916 considered the topic unworthy of discussion:
After his first three months in his post, the ministers concerned said that the ambassador apparently had nothing better to do than to annoy them constantly on the Armenian issue.
The tragedies of realpolitik repeat themselves without end. We must keep annoying the ministers, for only the end of silence can bring any hope of stopping these tragedies in the future.
What follows is the entire memo.
Meeting of the Imperial Budget Committee, September 29, 1916, notes of the State Secretary.
From Johannes Lepsius, Deutschland und Armenien, 1914-1918: Sammlung Diplomatischer Aktenstücke (Bremen: Donat & Temmen, 1986), 294.
In the Armenian question, we have intervened energetically with the Porte from the very beginning. Perhaps later after the war, when our position is no longer so precarious, we will publish all of our negotiations. I can tell you confidentially that our ambassador has gone as to incur personally the resentment of the Minister of the Interior. After his first three months in his post, the ministers concerned said that the ambassador apparently had nothing better to do than to annoy them constantly on the Armenian issue. In light of the recent complaints that the Armenian orphanages are being dissolved and that Armenian girls and boys are being brought into harems and Turkish orphanages and forced to become Mohammedans, I personally raised serious objections with the Turkish Foreign Minister, who is presently here in Germany. I pointed out that these measures would be extraordinarily embarrassing not only for the Turks but also for us and that we would have to request urgently that methods and means be found to alleviate this situation. I can only say that we have done everything that we could. The only course left would have been to break our alliance with Turkey. You will understand that we could not bring ourselves to do this. As much was we lament the lot of the Armenians from a purely human standpoint, we must think first of our sons and brothers who are having to shed their precious blood in the fiercest battles and who are partly dependent on the support of the Turks. The Turks, after all, are doing us a great service in covering our southeastern flank. You will agree with me that, having already embittered the Turks with our constant interventions in the Armenian question, we could not go so far as to renounce the alliance.
(Translation from The Holocaust and Other Genocides: History, Representation, Ethics, ed. by Helmut Smith for Vanderbilt University Press, 2002.)