US URGES ARMENIA TO RECOGNIZE TURKISH BORDER

Trend News Agency
June 20 2008
Azerbaijan

The United States for the first time publicly called on Armenia to
formally recognize its border with Turkey as part of proposed measures
for reconciliation between the two conflicting neighbors. "Armenia
should acknowledge the existing border with Turkey and respond
constructively to efforts that Turkey may make," Dan Fried, assistant
secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, told a hearing
of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on recent developments in the
Caucasus.Also in the written text of his speech at the panel, Fried
said, "Armenia must be ready to… disavow any claim on the territory
of modern Turkey."A top problem between Ankara and Yerevan is Armenia’s
insistent calls for the recognition of World War I-era killings of
Armenians in the Ottoman empire as genocide, reported Turkishdailynews.

Turkey recognizes Armenia, but has refused to set up diplomatic
relations with it and keeps their mutual land border closed in response
to Armenia’s ongoing occupation of Nagorny-Karabakh, an enclave inside
Azerbaijan, and some Azeri lands.Armenia and U.S. Armenians accuse
Turkey of subjecting its northeastern neighbor to an economic blockade.

Turkish diplomats say that Armenian efforts for international genocide
recognition is a prelude to a larger list of demands, including
compensation and even "return of lands."Armenia’s constitution does
not explicitly recognize the country’s border with Turkey, and many
Armenians and the Armenian diaspora view part of eastern Anatolia as
traditional Armenian lands.Fried’s remarks were important in the sense
that it was the United States’ first public call for Armenia to respect
Turkey’s territorial integrity as a prelude to better relations.The
U.S. official also called on Turkey "to come to terms with a dark
chapter in its history.""Reconciliation will require political will on
both sides, and does require dealing with the sensitive and painful
issues, including the issue of the mass killings and forced exile
of up to one-and-a-half million Armenians at the end of the Ottoman
Empire. Turkey needs to come to terms with this history," Fried said.

He also reiterated a call for Turkey to open the land border
with Armenia, saying both sides would greatly benefit from such
reconciliation.Pro-Armenian lawmakers insistently asked Fried why
the United States does not officially recognize last century’s
Armenian killings in the Ottoman empire as genocide."We don’t use
the term because we do not think that the use of that term would
contribute to a reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey, nor would
it contribute to Turkey’s examination of the dark spots in its own
history," he replied.A genocide resolution came close to passage at
the U.S. House of Representatives last fall, and only strong Turkish
warnings that such a move destroy the relationship with America and
President George W. Bush’s administration’s focused efforts caused
it to be shelved.But analysts here warn that Turkey almost certainly
will face the same problem in Congress next year. Making things worse
for Turkey, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama strongly
supports the Armenian position.