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ERDOGAN SCRAPS ARGENTINA VISIT OVER ATATURK BUST
By REUTERS
Arab News
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article59397.ece
May 30 2010
Saudi Arabia
ISTANBUL: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan canceled a
trip to Argentina on Sunday after Buenos Aires authorities halted
the display of a bust of Turkey's founder, a move Turkey blamed on
Armenian lobbyists.
The row over the statue, due to be unveiled in a park, comes during
a high-profile trip to South America by Erdogan. Turkey's Foreign
Ministry said in a statement the two-day visit, which was to have
begun Sunday, had been canceled, and it hoped Argentina would take
steps to remove the shadow cast on Turkish-Argentine relations.
"The trip was canceled because written permission for the monument
given to Turkey beforehand by the ... Buenos Aires district was
reversed as a result of initiatives by the Armenian lobby, which is
opposed to Turkey," it said.
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded Turkey in 1923 after the collapse of
the Ottoman empire and is highly revered by Turks. Busts and statues
of Ataturk stand all over the country.
Argentina's president spoke with Erdogan to explain she could not
overrule the decision, yet he found this unacceptable and decided
not to go, the statement added.
Hopes that a historic accord signed between Muslim Turkey and Christian
Armenia last year could end a century of hostility suffered a blow last
month when Yerevan said it had suspended ratification of the accord.
The accord was the closest Turkey and Armenia had come to moving
beyond the mass killings by Ottoman Turks in 1915 that has poisoned
their relationship ever since.
Turkey accepts that many Armenians were killed but strongly denies that
up to 1.5 million died and it amounted to genocide. Armenian lobby
groups and the Armenian diaspora have long pushed for a recognition
of the killings as such.
Erdogan arrived in Brazil last week where he and Brazilian President
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva defended their fuel swap deal with Iran,
which the United States says threatens a UN drive to impose new
sanctions. He is due to travel late to Chile.
From: A. Papazian
By REUTERS
Arab News
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article59397.ece
May 30 2010
Saudi Arabia
ISTANBUL: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan canceled a
trip to Argentina on Sunday after Buenos Aires authorities halted
the display of a bust of Turkey's founder, a move Turkey blamed on
Armenian lobbyists.
The row over the statue, due to be unveiled in a park, comes during
a high-profile trip to South America by Erdogan. Turkey's Foreign
Ministry said in a statement the two-day visit, which was to have
begun Sunday, had been canceled, and it hoped Argentina would take
steps to remove the shadow cast on Turkish-Argentine relations.
"The trip was canceled because written permission for the monument
given to Turkey beforehand by the ... Buenos Aires district was
reversed as a result of initiatives by the Armenian lobby, which is
opposed to Turkey," it said.
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded Turkey in 1923 after the collapse of
the Ottoman empire and is highly revered by Turks. Busts and statues
of Ataturk stand all over the country.
Argentina's president spoke with Erdogan to explain she could not
overrule the decision, yet he found this unacceptable and decided
not to go, the statement added.
Hopes that a historic accord signed between Muslim Turkey and Christian
Armenia last year could end a century of hostility suffered a blow last
month when Yerevan said it had suspended ratification of the accord.
The accord was the closest Turkey and Armenia had come to moving
beyond the mass killings by Ottoman Turks in 1915 that has poisoned
their relationship ever since.
Turkey accepts that many Armenians were killed but strongly denies that
up to 1.5 million died and it amounted to genocide. Armenian lobby
groups and the Armenian diaspora have long pushed for a recognition
of the killings as such.
Erdogan arrived in Brazil last week where he and Brazilian President
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva defended their fuel swap deal with Iran,
which the United States says threatens a UN drive to impose new
sanctions. He is due to travel late to Chile.
From: A. Papazian