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Today's Zaman
Deputy PM: Turkey expects Armenia, US to respond to 1915 statement
2014-04-30
Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said on Tuesday that the US and
Armenia should respond to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's widely
welcomed statement on the events of 1915, saying that they should also
take steps to solve existing problems.
In his remarks at a conference organized by the Foundation for
Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) in Washington, Atalay
said Erdogan's statement -- in which he extended condolences to the
grandchildren of Armenians who lost their lives in 1915 -- is "an
advanced statement."
"We expect this message to be received by the US, the international
community, by Armenia and [the] Armenian diaspora, and [we expect]
further steps to be taken and further statements [to be released] for
the assessment and solution of problems,' Atalay said, adding that
Turkey will also take further steps on the issue.
In a historic first for the Turkish Republic, Erdogan extended
Turkey's condolences to the grandchildren of Armenians who lost their
lives in 1915. His surprising statement came the day before April 24,
when Armenians commemorate the events they describe as genocide under
Ottoman rule. The statement was widely welcomed by the West and
Armenians living in Turkey, but Yerevan is unsatisfied with the
statement.
Atalay said he met with US Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson
and Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken during his visit to
Washington.
He underlined that negotiations between Turkey and the European Union
have made a major contribution to Turkey's process of democratization.
Atalay claimed that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK
Party) started "EU mobilization' when it came to power.
"The negotiation process [and] Copenhagen criteria were so important
to us. If there hadn't been [Turkey's] EU process, we couldn't have
taken today's democratization steps [with] only the internal
mechanisms in Turkey. They are still important for us. We are taking
new steps in order to accelerate [the] EU process,' the Cihan news
agency cited Atalay as saying.
In March, the European Parliament (EP) approved a report expressing
concern that two controversial laws passed in the Turkish Parliament
in the aftermath of a corruption investigation that erupted with a
wave of detentions on Dec. 17 "are taking Turkey away from its path
toward the fulfillment of the Copenhagen criteria.'
The writer of the report, European Parliament's rapporteur on Turkey
Ria Oomen-Ruijten, stressed that new media legislation and an Internet
bill is making Turkey drift away from the Copenhagen criteria, which
determine whether or not a prospective country is ready to join the
EU.
During the conference in Washington, Atalay was asked about remarks in
which he claimed the Jewish diaspora was behind the Gezi protests. The
deputy prime minister denied the claims, saying "I didn't make such a
statement."
Atalay claimed that a news agency had "misinterpreted" his remarks.
In remarks to reporters last July that were broadcast on Cihan's
website, Atalay said: "There are those inside and outside the country
who envy Turkey's growth. They are all uniting. On the one side, you
have the Jewish diaspora. You have seen the foreign media's attitude
over the Gezi Park events, how quickly they bought into it and how
quickly and widely they started broadcasting before any assessment was
made."
From: Baghdasarian
Today's Zaman
Deputy PM: Turkey expects Armenia, US to respond to 1915 statement
2014-04-30
Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said on Tuesday that the US and
Armenia should respond to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's widely
welcomed statement on the events of 1915, saying that they should also
take steps to solve existing problems.
In his remarks at a conference organized by the Foundation for
Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) in Washington, Atalay
said Erdogan's statement -- in which he extended condolences to the
grandchildren of Armenians who lost their lives in 1915 -- is "an
advanced statement."
"We expect this message to be received by the US, the international
community, by Armenia and [the] Armenian diaspora, and [we expect]
further steps to be taken and further statements [to be released] for
the assessment and solution of problems,' Atalay said, adding that
Turkey will also take further steps on the issue.
In a historic first for the Turkish Republic, Erdogan extended
Turkey's condolences to the grandchildren of Armenians who lost their
lives in 1915. His surprising statement came the day before April 24,
when Armenians commemorate the events they describe as genocide under
Ottoman rule. The statement was widely welcomed by the West and
Armenians living in Turkey, but Yerevan is unsatisfied with the
statement.
Atalay said he met with US Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson
and Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken during his visit to
Washington.
He underlined that negotiations between Turkey and the European Union
have made a major contribution to Turkey's process of democratization.
Atalay claimed that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK
Party) started "EU mobilization' when it came to power.
"The negotiation process [and] Copenhagen criteria were so important
to us. If there hadn't been [Turkey's] EU process, we couldn't have
taken today's democratization steps [with] only the internal
mechanisms in Turkey. They are still important for us. We are taking
new steps in order to accelerate [the] EU process,' the Cihan news
agency cited Atalay as saying.
In March, the European Parliament (EP) approved a report expressing
concern that two controversial laws passed in the Turkish Parliament
in the aftermath of a corruption investigation that erupted with a
wave of detentions on Dec. 17 "are taking Turkey away from its path
toward the fulfillment of the Copenhagen criteria.'
The writer of the report, European Parliament's rapporteur on Turkey
Ria Oomen-Ruijten, stressed that new media legislation and an Internet
bill is making Turkey drift away from the Copenhagen criteria, which
determine whether or not a prospective country is ready to join the
EU.
During the conference in Washington, Atalay was asked about remarks in
which he claimed the Jewish diaspora was behind the Gezi protests. The
deputy prime minister denied the claims, saying "I didn't make such a
statement."
Atalay claimed that a news agency had "misinterpreted" his remarks.
In remarks to reporters last July that were broadcast on Cihan's
website, Atalay said: "There are those inside and outside the country
who envy Turkey's growth. They are all uniting. On the one side, you
have the Jewish diaspora. You have seen the foreign media's attitude
over the Gezi Park events, how quickly they bought into it and how
quickly and widely they started broadcasting before any assessment was
made."
From: Baghdasarian