Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
Dec 29 2006

Turkey warns US over Armenian genocide bill

Friday , 29 December 2006

Faced with the possibility that the U.S. Congress will consider a
proposal with regard to the so-called Armenian ‘genocide’,
Spokesperson for the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Namik Tan
asked the U.S. Administration to continue its long-lasting balanced
and constructive policy.

At a weekly press conference Tan discussed news reports indicating
that with the Democrats in control of both houses of Congress, the
U.S. legislative body would consider a proposal on the so-called
Armenian ‘genocide’.

Tan noted that Turkey was following the efforts of the Armenian lobby
to exploit the political situation in the United States with great
concern.

Noting that bilateral relations between Turkey and the United States
were multidimensional and strategic, Tan further said:

`The U.S. has always been constructive and right minded vis-à-vis
those kinds of efforts. We believe that the U.S. administration will
continue the same approach. The relations between the U.S. and Turkey
are so important that they transcend those insignificant issues.’
Asked about the recent remarks made by Armenian authorities, Tan
recalled that any concrete results from those efforts largely
depended on Armenia’s flexible and constructive approach to resolve
the regional problems in compliance with the international legal
rules and regulations.

The Armenians name the 1915 events as ‘genocide’ though Turkey
rejects all these claims. There is no national or international court
verdict confirming the Armenian claims, but political claims. Armenia
supports all efforts undermining Turkish interests abroad. Armenia
has problematic relations with all neigbouring countries including
Georgia and Azerbaijan.