FORMER AMBASSADOR OF TURKEY TO USA URGES OBAMA NOT TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
ArmInfo
2008-11-20 20:38:00
ArmInfo. Former Ambassador of Turkey to the USA Faruk Logoglu sent
an open letter to the newly elected US President Barak Obama urging
him not to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
As "Hurriyet" Turkish newspaper reports, the letter says that
the American-Turkish relations today are stable and relatively
warm. ‘However, 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’,
the letter says. ‘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’.
As F. Logoglu said in the letter, ‘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’.