TURKISH DIPLOMAT WARNS U.S. PRESIDENT AGAINST ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION

PanARMENIAN.Net
20.11.2008 17:40 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Faruk Logoglu, former Ambassador of Turkey to the
United States sent a letter to U.S. President-elect Barack Obama,
Hurriyet daily reports.

The letter reads:

"I urge you, Mr. President, to pay attention to the following issues to
ensure that our partnership remains strong, constructive and mutually
beneficial. I realize that on all these points the Turkish side must
take the appropriate reciprocating steps.

1. Our relationship is a special one. It is the only formal alliance of
the U.S. with a Muslim country in NATO. Common values, shared ideals
and compatible national interests form its solid foundation. They
are both democracies.

2. Today our relations are stable and relatively warm. Recovery in
the aftermath of the March 1, 2003, vote in the Turkish Parliament
was not easy. The halting of the Armenian resolutions in Congress
last year and the belated cooperation against PKK terrorists in Iraq
provided breathing space. You now have the opportunity to put our
ties on a progressive track.

6. Surveys consistently indicate a very unfavorable opinion of the
U.S. in Turkey. This underlines the need to implement a broad public
diplomacy strategy to win the hearts of the Turkish public. That
should be one of the tasks of your Administration.

7. The efforts of the Armenian and other anti-Turkish lobbies to take
our relationship hostage should be rendered harmless. You need to
convince the Turkish public that you are being fair and not giving
in to the demands of special interest groups, especially when those
demands are at least questionable.

8. Two concrete issues regarding Turkey that will be brought to your
attention in the early days of your Presidency will be the Armenian
resolutions in the Congress and American help in the fight against the
PKK that is based in Iraq. They literally constitute the red buttons
in the control deck of our relations. Any resolution in Congress
supporting Armenian claims would do substantial, if not irreparable,
damage to your standing in Turkey and upset the entire chemistry of
our relationship. Moreover, it would not help resolve the problem
and reverse the positive trends now in the making between Turkey and
Armenia. Instead, you should encourage the recent positive trends
between the two neighboring states in the direction of dialogue and
conciliation."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress