Warsaw summit a success despite Armenia reversal

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

DIPLOMACY

ANKARA – Turkish Daily News

A two-day summit of Council of Europe leaders proved to be a blow to
hopes for a meeting between the Turkish prime minister and the Armenian
president, as it witnessed tension between the two countries over the
issue of the alleged Armenian genocide instead of a much-anticipated
breakthrough.

Erdogan rebuked Armenian President Robert Kocharian yesterday for
raising the issue of the alleged genocide in his address to the
Council of Europe on Monday and said Turkey would reject outsiders’
“lobbying efforts” on the issue.

“We do not appreciate these efforts to lobby (in favor of the Armenian
claims), lobbying that has no basis on historical documents and facts,”
Erdogan said.

But despite reversal on the dialogue with Armenia, the Turkish
delegation took pride in successfully pushing for the inclusion
of a call for a fight against Islamophobia in the final statement
of the summit. “We strongly condemn all forms of intolerance and
discrimination, in particular those based on sex, race and religion,
including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia,” the leaders said in the
final statement.

The Turkish delegation also successfully worked against a Polish
proposal to refer to international humanitarian laws in the section
of the final statement dealing with international terrorism. Turkish
representatives even said it would not sign the statement if the
reference to international humanitarian laws was not withdrawn,
threatening to block approval of the text.