TURKEY HOPES OBAMA WILL BE ADVISED NOT TO CALL THE EVENTS OF 1915 GENOCIDE
armradio.am
18.12.2008 16:40
Turkey believes aides of U.S.-president elect Barack Obama would
advise him to refrain from using the word genocide in defining the
1915 incidents.
A delegation from the Turkish Foreign Ministry had paid a recent
visit to Washington to hold a series of talks with the teams of
U.S. president-elect Barack Obama and his Foreign Minister Hilary
Clinton, Hurriyet daily reported.
The Turkish delegation got the impression that his team would advise
Obama to refrain from using the term genocide to describe the 1915
incidents in the U.S: President’s commemoration message to be issued
on April 24.
The Turkish side delivered a message to the new administration.
"Bringing the Armenian claims (regarding the 1915 incidents) to
Congress would not only hurt seriously Turkish-American relations
but also the new period of dialogue started between Yerevan and
Ankara. Such a situation would have a negative reflection on the
cooperation of the two countries on resolving regional issues,
including Iraq," Hurriyet quoted the Turkish delegation as informing
the officials from the new administration.
The Turkish delegation consisted of Foreign Ministry Undersecretary
Ertugrul Apakan and Foreign Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Feridun
Sinirlioglu. he Turkish officials held talks with the aides of Obama,
as well as Clin ton.