TURKEY TO RESPOND WITH "KEEPING ARMENIA’S BLOCKADE" TO ADOPTION OF RESOLUTION ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BY US

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Mar 15 2007

ANKARA, MARCH 15, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. "If the US Congress
qualifies massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Turkey in 1915 as
genocide, it will damage the US relations with Turkey and quarantee
continuation of Armenia’s blockade by Turkey." Chairman of the Foreign
Relations Commission of the Turkish parliament Mehmed Dulger made
this statement during an interview to Reuters.

Saying that adoption of the resolution on genocide will incite Ankara
to continue Armenia’s blockade, the Turkish MP added: "The economy
of the Caucasian region is awakening, while Armenians are out of
the game."

At the same time, according to Radio Liberty, Dulger noted that the
oil and gas piplelines connecting Turkey with Georgia and Azerbaijan,
as well as railway to be built, bypass Armenia.

In the words of Dulger, who represents the ruling "Justice and
Development" Party, Turkey has not decided yet what measures it should
take to "punish" the US for adopting the genocide resolution.

He noted the decision to restrict the use of the Incirlik military
base as one of the possible steps.

Dulger expressed an opinion that the adoption of such resolution will
incite anti-American moods in Turkey and raise the rating of extreme
nationalists on the eve of the parliamentary elections in the country.

"Adoption of the resolution will be a hostile step with respect to
us and will damage our relations with Washington even more than the
Turkish parliament’s 2003 decision not to allow US troops to use our
territory for entering Iraq," Dugler stated.

Despite Turkey’s efforts to prevent adoption of the genocide
resolution, particilarly, visits to Washington by Turkish foreign
minister, MPs and commander of the general staff of the country’s armed
forces, Mehmed Dulger is pessimistic about this issue and expressed
an opinion that the resolution will be adopted with the support of
Nancy Pelosi, new speaker of the House of Representatives.