ARMENIA CONGRATULATES PRESIDENT GUL

The New Anatolian
Aug 31 2007
Turkey

President Robert Kocharian and Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian
joined world leaders in congratulating Abdullah Gul on his election
as Turkey’s president.

Kocharian’s office did not release any details of what is a rare
congratulatory message sent from Yerevan to Ankara.

Kocharian, who is currently in Greece on a private visit, received an
official congratulation from Gul’s predecessor, Ahmet Necdet Sezer,
after his reelection in 2003.

"There is much work to be done in this region, and I am sure you will
bring your contribution to global peace and prosperity," Oskanian said
in a separate letter to Gul released by the Armenian Foreign Ministry.

Gul repeatedly met with Oskanian in his previous capacity as Turkey’s
foreign minister to discuss ways of normalizing strained relations
between their countries. No major progress was made during the talks.

Armenia and Turkey have no diplomatic relations, with successive
governments in Ankara making their establishment conditional on
a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and an end to the
long-running Armenian campaign for international recognition of the
alleged 1915 genocide in the Ottoman Empire. The current Turkish
government, formed by Gul’s Justice and Development (AK) Party, has
essentially stuck to those preconditions despite showing signs of a
softening of Turkish policy on Armenia.

According to the Armenian media few politicians and analysts in
Yerevan expect a rapid improvement of Turkish-Armenian as a result
of Gul’s election. Giro Manoyan, a senior member of the governing
Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), also argued
that Turkish presidents have had little say in the formulation of
government policies.

Parliamentary opposition Zharangutyun leader Raffi Hovannisian also
congratulated the new Turkish president. "It is to be hoped that,
during your tenure and that of the next Armenian president to be
elected in several months’ time, Turkish-Armenian relations will
enter a wholly new phase of reflection, exploration, discovery, and
ultimate normalization," Hovannisian wrote in a letter made public
by his party’s press service.

"The deep divides between our countries, be they of contemporary
character or part of the legacy of the Great Armenian Dispossession,
must be overcome and resolved in truth, with integrity, and through
the partnership of the two new leaders and their fellow citizens of
good faith and conscience," he said. "May God grant you the vision,
commitment, and health."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress