DANIEL FRIED: "TURKEY OUGHT TO OPEN UP THE BORDER WITH ARMENIA AND RESTORE NORMAL RELATIONS"

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 16 2007

"We think that Turkey ought to open up the border with Armenia and
restore normal relations.

"We’re pleased by recent steps Turkey has taken, like restoring the
Armenian church in Eastern Turkey, even if as a museum. That’s still
something. And there is in Turkish society a constituency for this kind
of reconciliation. Hrant Dink was murdered by an extremist nationalist,
but then 100,000 Turks were in the street saying we are all Armenians,
we are all Hrant Dink. It didn’t mean literally that they’re Armenians,
but it means we reject nationalism. We embrace a Turkish identity which
is tolerant. That’s very hopeful. That’s a very good thing. That’s what
we want to encourage," said Daniel Fried, US Assistant Secretary for
the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at a daily press briefing.

The Assistant Secretary stressed that the Turkish Government has
never blackmailed or threatened the U.S. Government. They have never
said that they will take retaliatory steps if the Armenian Genocide
resolution passes.

"The Turkish government has said that Turkish opinion would be inflamed
and outraged by this resolution and that they, the Turkish government,
fear what the Turkish parliament might do in reaction to something
our parliament might do. So it’s a little bit different than what
you described.

"Turkey is a good ally. It is also a country which is undergoing a
profound democratic transformation itself. Turkey has for decades had
the formal elements of democracy, but in the last 10, 15, 20 years
it has deepened this democracy, and especially in the last 5 to 10
years. The boundaries of freedom of expression are now much greater
than they were before. Civilian institutions are much stronger. The
role of the military is much more circumscribed. These things
are advancing, and as this happens there is a growing discussion
in Turkey about their own past, and in particular the past of the
Ottoman Empire and its relationship to the Armenian community there
and the mass killings that took place in 1915 and afterwards. Turks
are beginning to discuss this.

"We encourage them to examine their history and the painful, what can
be called dark spots, and they’re not the only country that has them.

The United States has plenty of our own: slavery, treatment of American
Indians, treatment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. We have a
lot of things in our history of which we’re not proud," Fried said.