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Turkish Daily News, Turkey
October 30, 2008 Thursday
ERDOGAN ADVISER THROWS OLIVE BRANCH TO ARMENIA
The chief foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan said Tuesday that Turkey did not view Armenia as a threat or
an enemy and that he was hopeful of reconciliation.
"We should open our hearts, minds and arms to each other," Ahmet
Davutoglu said at a conference here in Washington on Turkish
policy. The Brookings Institute, a think tank here, and SETA, a
Turkish think tank, co-hosted the event.
But speaking to Turkish reporters later, he also warned that a
potential formal recognition by the United States of the Armenian
claims of genocide would greatly damage the U.S.-Turkish relationship
and hurt Turkey's efforts to reconcile with Armenia.Suat Kiniklioglu,
a leading deputy from the ruling Justice and Development Party, or
AKP, when asked at the conference about how Turkey would respond to
any U.S. recognition of the claims of genocide, he said, "forget
partnership."Armenians label the World War I-era killings of their
kinsmen in the Ottoman Empire as genocide, while Turkey opposes the
term.
Although Turkey recognized Armenia's independence in the wake of the
former Soviet Union's disintegration in 1991, it has refused to
establish diplomatic ties and is also keeping its land border with
Armenia closed in protest of the Armenian occupation of
Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed enclave in Azerbaijan, and part of
Azerbaijan proper since 1993. But there are recent signs of a
rapprochement.
Visit, talks, prospects for progress:
President Abdullah Gul visited Yerevan in early September at the
invitation of Armenian President Serge Sarkisian on the occasion of a
football game between the national teams of the two countries and held
talks with his hosts.
Later in September the foreign ministers of Turkey, Armenia and
Azerbaijan met in New York on the sidelines of the annual United
Nations General Assembly meetings. More talks are probable next month,
diplomats say.
In Washington, Davutoglu met with administration officials and
advisers to the Democratic and Republican presidential
candidates. Davutoglu admitted that a U.S.-Turkish crisis was possible
in the event that an Democratic Obama administration went ahead with
the candidate's pledge to recognize the Armenian claims of genocide,
saying Turkey wanted to preempt that risk.Last year a genocide
resolution came close to being passed by the House of Representatives
and Turkey warned this would harm security and other ties in a lasting
way. President George W. Bush's efforts to stall the resolution ended
with it being shelved at the time.
October 30, 2008 Thursday
ERDOGAN ADVISER THROWS OLIVE BRANCH TO ARMENIA
The chief foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan said Tuesday that Turkey did not view Armenia as a threat or
an enemy and that he was hopeful of reconciliation.
"We should open our hearts, minds and arms to each other," Ahmet
Davutoglu said at a conference here in Washington on Turkish
policy. The Brookings Institute, a think tank here, and SETA, a
Turkish think tank, co-hosted the event.
But speaking to Turkish reporters later, he also warned that a
potential formal recognition by the United States of the Armenian
claims of genocide would greatly damage the U.S.-Turkish relationship
and hurt Turkey's efforts to reconcile with Armenia.Suat Kiniklioglu,
a leading deputy from the ruling Justice and Development Party, or
AKP, when asked at the conference about how Turkey would respond to
any U.S. recognition of the claims of genocide, he said, "forget
partnership."Armenians label the World War I-era killings of their
kinsmen in the Ottoman Empire as genocide, while Turkey opposes the
term.
Although Turkey recognized Armenia's independence in the wake of the
former Soviet Union's disintegration in 1991, it has refused to
establish diplomatic ties and is also keeping its land border with
Armenia closed in protest of the Armenian occupation of
Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed enclave in Azerbaijan, and part of
Azerbaijan proper since 1993. But there are recent signs of a
rapprochement.
Visit, talks, prospects for progress:
President Abdullah Gul visited Yerevan in early September at the
invitation of Armenian President Serge Sarkisian on the occasion of a
football game between the national teams of the two countries and held
talks with his hosts.
Later in September the foreign ministers of Turkey, Armenia and
Azerbaijan met in New York on the sidelines of the annual United
Nations General Assembly meetings. More talks are probable next month,
diplomats say.
In Washington, Davutoglu met with administration officials and
advisers to the Democratic and Republican presidential
candidates. Davutoglu admitted that a U.S.-Turkish crisis was possible
in the event that an Democratic Obama administration went ahead with
the candidate's pledge to recognize the Armenian claims of genocide,
saying Turkey wanted to preempt that risk.Last year a genocide
resolution came close to being passed by the House of Representatives
and Turkey warned this would harm security and other ties in a lasting
way. President George W. Bush's efforts to stall the resolution ended
with it being shelved at the time.