The New Anatolian, Turkey
May 9 2005

Erdogan in Moscow for 60th Anniversary of VE Day

SENEM CAGLAYAN
The New Anatolian/ Ankara

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday flew to Moscow to
participate in the 60th anniversary of VE Day. May 8 commemorates the
end of fighting in Europe during World War II.

His trip came a few days after Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc
postponed a trip there in protest of Russia’s decision to recognize
the so-called Armenian genocide claims.

Arinc’s office said the speaker was postponing his upcoming trip to
Russia following last month’s decision by the Russian Duma, or lower
house of Parliament, which had recognized the Armenian claims of
“genocide.” Arinc was scheduled to travel to Russia around mid-June.

The United Nations last year declared May 8 and 9 as Remembrance and
Reconciliation Days, but they also have a special national meaning
for Russia.

Erdogan’s visit comes at a time when Turkey’s close ally, the U.S.,
and Russia are at odds due to escalating tensions over the U.S.’
pressure on Russia to own up to its wartime past. In Russia, victory
in the “Great Patriotic War” is treasured as an unvarnished triumph,
while many of its Eastern European neighbors regard the Red Army’s
success to be the start of 50 years of brutal Soviet oppression.

Anger over that unacknowledged history remains particularly potent in
the Baltic nations of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, which were
annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940 and won independence just 14
years ago.

U.S. President George W. Bush has promised that such matters, part of
Washington’s broader concerns about Russian President Vladimir
Putin’s commitment to democracy, will come up when the two meet —
first formally, then over dinner with their wives — at the Russian
leader’s dacha.

Putin retorted that U.S. has no business criticizing Russia’s
domestic affairs because the U.S.’ system of electing presidents,
including the Electoral College, is not without flaws.

Erdogan reciprocates Putin’s visit

Erdogan’s visit is the first to Russia since Putin’s two-day visit to
Turkey last year.

Last September, Putin visited Ankara some three decades after the
last visit by President of the Soviet Union Nikolay Podgorny in 1973.

Although Turkey and Russia no longer share a border, following the
collapse of the Soviet Union, they continue to have common strategic
interests. The two countries still overlap in the “near abroad”
regions, i.e. the Caucasus and Central Asia, where some degree of
geopolitical competition is inevitable.