Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 27 2007

Wilson: US stance will not change

While Turkish officials who gathered in Washington to attend a
conference expressed hope that the Armenian genocide resolution
pending in the US Congress would not pass, the US ambassador showed
support.

"Everything has been said already, God willing, the resolution won’t
pass," said Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Ergin Saygun, who
attended a reception at the Turkish Embassy in Washington prior to
the opening of the annual conference on US-Turkish relations
organized by various business associations led by American-Turkish
Council’s (ATC) to promote commercial and cultural relations between
the two countries.

"We don’t want this resolution to pass," said Ross Wilson who is the
US ambassador to Turkey, attending the reception in Washington,
adding that the US administration would not change its stance no
matter how the US Congress acted on the resolution.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert
Gates, with a letter sent to senior members of Congress, indicated
the damage that Turkish-US ties could suffer if the pending
resolution on Armenian claims of genocide at the hands of the Ottoman
Turks was passed.

The resolution was presented to the US House of Representatives
earlier this year though the timing of the vote has yet to be
decided. Turkey has warned that passage of the resolution would harm
strategic relations with the United States and undermine cooperation
in key regions across the world, in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Rýfat Hisarcýklýoðlu, president of the Turkish Union of
Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB), commented that Americans
were wise and would not meddle with an issue that should be in the
hands of historians.

Message from Bush

The US and Turkey share mutual interests and improve global wealth
together has expressed US President George W. Bush, in a message sent
yesterday for the opening of the ATC conference. He also expressed
gratitude for the Turkish-Americans’ contribution to the American
culture.