TAN: WE EXPECT US ADMINISTRATION TO ACT WITH COMMONSENSE
New Anatolian, Turkey
Dec 28 2006
Ankara yesterday called on the U.S. administration to act with
commonsense against efforts in the U.S. Congress — now controlled by
the Democrats — to adopt a resolution recognizing Armenian genocide
claims.
Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Namik Tan, in his weekly press
conference, yesterday, expressed Ankara’s displeasure at efforts by the
Armenians diaspora to take advantage of recent political developments
in the U.S. to have their genocide claims recognized by Congress.
Tan described the relations between Turkey and the U.S. as "strategic
and multidimensional."
"The U.S. administration has been pursuing a commonsensical approach
so far. We believe that the U.S. administration will maintain relations
with the same understanding. Relations between Turkey and the U.S. have
importance beyond these small calculations. We have close cooperation
with the U.S. We will continue informing them on the issue at all
levels. We expect the U.S to act with commonsense in the following
term," he underlined.
Commenting on recent statements by Armenian officials proposing a
normalization of relations without putting forward recognition of the
so-called genocide as a precondition, Tan underlined that Turkey’s
constructive proposal on the issue still awaits a positive response
from Yerevan.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a letter to Armenian
President Robert Kocharian last year proposed the establishment of
a joint committee of Turkish and Armenian historians to investigate
the 1915 incidents, in order to put an end to the major controversy
between two capitals.
Tan said concrete progress could not be made towards a normalization
of relations so far because of the negative approach of Armenia
towards Turkey’s proposal. "A joint committee would be a mechanism
that eliminates differences of interpretations with regards to the
1915 incidents and functions as a confidence-building tool between
Turkish and Armenian peoples," Tan said.
He also underlined that yielding a result from the efforts depended
on a more flexible and constructive approach by Yerevan (to overcome
bilateral and regional problems) and Armenia’s acting in line with
the international laws.
Asked whether Ankara had protested to Baku about the mistreatment of
Armenian-origin Turkish citizen Burak Bedikyan who is not allowed
to enter Azerbaijan, Tan said that the Turkish side has asked
for information from Azeri authorities and are still waiting for
a response.