ERDOGAN ADVISES OBAMA TO OUTGROW AMATEUR TALK

Turkish Press
Jan 24 2008

ANKARA – Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan dubbed Barack Obama, one
of the Democratic frontrunners in the U.S. presidential elections who
promised to recognize the killing of Armenians in 1915 as "genocide,"
an amateur of politics without explicitly mentioning his name.

"Presidential elections campaigns continue in the United States. Some
politicians` discourse demonstrates that they do not have an adequate
knowledge of their country`s policies," said Erdogan in his Justice
and Development Party (AKP) meeting yesterday. He noted that Turkey
nurtured good relations and a strategic partnership with the United
States. "Everybody knows that adoption of such a resolution would
cause irreparable damage to Turkish-American relations," Erdogan
said. Ankara-Washington relations cannot be subdued by lobbies, slander
and petty internal political calculations, Erdogan said. "A day may
come when you will have to choose between 70 million Turkey and two
million Armenia. One has to think carefully before uttering such
words. I suggest that he outgrow the amateur period of his political
career," he said.