TURKEY TO CASH IN ON ISRAEL’S CLOSENESS TO US

AzerNews Weekly
Dec 11 2008
Azerbaijan

Turkey is worried that the US President-elect Barack Obama`s
pre-election pledge that he would recognize the so-called Armenian
genocide may be realized.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul intends to use the brokering of
Israel to end the anxiety by visiting the country in January. Turkish
Hurriyyet newspaper says Gul`s key objective is to stop Obama from
recognizing the "genocide".

Armenians say Ottoman Turks killed 1.5 million people during World War
I, a claim strongly denied by Turkey. Ankara says the developments
resulted from disturbances that took place during the fall of the
Ottoman Empire.

Ankara is going to return the favor to Israel, a country known for
closeness to the U.S. It is therefore not surprising that Gul plans
to table the issue of Israel`s relations with Syria. Thus, if Obama
does not recognize the "genocide", Turkey would broker talks to end
the "cold war" between Tel-Aviv and Damascus.

Gul`s visit to Israel is his first visit to this country as
president. He had been to Israel three times as foreign minister.