ERDOðAN CALLS BUSH FOR SUPPORT AGAINST RESOLUTION
Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Oct 6 2007
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan phoned US President George W. Bush,
urging him to step up efforts against a resolution in the US Congress
upholding Armenian claims of genocide at the hands of the Ottoman
Empire, officials said yesterday.
Erdoðan warned that passage of the resolution, although officially
non-binding, would harm the strategic partnership between Turkey and
the United States, in addition to efforts at reconciliation between
Turkey and Armenia. The US House of Representatives Committee on
Foreign Affairs is widely expected to pass the resolution, which
declares that the killings of Armenians in eastern Anatolia during
World War I amounted to genocide, a claim refuted by Turkey. Eight
former foreign ministers of the US have sent a letter to House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi urging her to block the resolution.
Erdoðan stated that Armenia rejected an offer from Turkey to set up
a joint committee of historians to study the World War I events and
added that this offer was still on the table. Bush said for his part
that the administration was working determinedly against the resolution
and that it would intensify its efforts against it as the countdown
for the Congress vote looms. Officials said Erdoðan has also phoned
Israeli President Shimon Peres and asked for Israeli support against
efforts to win US recognition of the alleged genocide.
–Boundary_(ID_75NRHJUxede9mRh3PdYQZw)- –
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
