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RECONCILIATION WITH ARMENIA CLIMBS TURKEY'S PRIORITY LIST
By Daniel Dombey in Washington and Delphine Strauss in Ankara
FT
April 3 2009 03:00
Turkey is to make a concerted diplomatic push to resolve a
long-standing dispute with Armenia. Ankara hopes its efforts will not
only improve relations with Yerevan but also convince Washington to
step back from a decision that could affect US-Turkish ties.
Only days before President Barack Obama visits Turkey, the state
broadcaster TRT yesterday launched Armenian language radio programmes -
a gesture of good will to its neighbour.
Mr Obama has long promised to classify the 1915-1923 massacres of up
to 1.5m Armenians on present day Turkish soil as genocide. He faces
a test on April 24, the Armenian day of remembrance, when the US
president traditionally issues a statement. Meanwhile, 89 members of
the US House of Representatives have backed a resolution to recognise
the killings as genocide.
Turkey's successful effort to defeat a similar resolution in 2007
focused on warnings the US risked its continued use of an airbase in
Incirlik - a logistics hub for Iraq.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, is likely to tell
Mr Obama on Monday Armenia and Turkey will lose the best chance of
reconciliation in decades if the US Congress - or Mr Obama - were to
describe the killings as genocide.
Armenia and Turkey are engaged in talks intended to restore diplomatic
ties and to reopen the border, closed by Turkey in 1993 to support
Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh. A deal
would also have to address the dispute over whether the Ottoman era
massacres constitute genocide. Turkey denies there was any systematic
planning and says thousands of Turks also died.
"If something happened which destroyed this good dynamic it would not
be in the interest of anybody - not Turkey, Armenia, or the US," said
Ahmet Davutoglu, Mr Erdogan's top foreign policy adviser, recently.
*Turkish police yesterday detained more than 50 people in a
wide-ranging probe of suspicious share price movements on Istanbul's
Stock Exchange, Delphine Strauss reports.
A regulatory source told the FT stockbrokers and businessmen were
among those taken for questioning in a series of dawn raids after a
four-month investigation into suspected market manipulation.
By Daniel Dombey in Washington and Delphine Strauss in Ankara
FT
April 3 2009 03:00
Turkey is to make a concerted diplomatic push to resolve a
long-standing dispute with Armenia. Ankara hopes its efforts will not
only improve relations with Yerevan but also convince Washington to
step back from a decision that could affect US-Turkish ties.
Only days before President Barack Obama visits Turkey, the state
broadcaster TRT yesterday launched Armenian language radio programmes -
a gesture of good will to its neighbour.
Mr Obama has long promised to classify the 1915-1923 massacres of up
to 1.5m Armenians on present day Turkish soil as genocide. He faces
a test on April 24, the Armenian day of remembrance, when the US
president traditionally issues a statement. Meanwhile, 89 members of
the US House of Representatives have backed a resolution to recognise
the killings as genocide.
Turkey's successful effort to defeat a similar resolution in 2007
focused on warnings the US risked its continued use of an airbase in
Incirlik - a logistics hub for Iraq.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, is likely to tell
Mr Obama on Monday Armenia and Turkey will lose the best chance of
reconciliation in decades if the US Congress - or Mr Obama - were to
describe the killings as genocide.
Armenia and Turkey are engaged in talks intended to restore diplomatic
ties and to reopen the border, closed by Turkey in 1993 to support
Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh. A deal
would also have to address the dispute over whether the Ottoman era
massacres constitute genocide. Turkey denies there was any systematic
planning and says thousands of Turks also died.
"If something happened which destroyed this good dynamic it would not
be in the interest of anybody - not Turkey, Armenia, or the US," said
Ahmet Davutoglu, Mr Erdogan's top foreign policy adviser, recently.
*Turkish police yesterday detained more than 50 people in a
wide-ranging probe of suspicious share price movements on Istanbul's
Stock Exchange, Delphine Strauss reports.
A regulatory source told the FT stockbrokers and businessmen were
among those taken for questioning in a series of dawn raids after a
four-month investigation into suspected market manipulation.