Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 7 2009

Deputy sees a first in similarity of US, Turkish regional policy

Murat Mercan, who heads Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Commission, has
said Turkey and the United States have very similar policies in the
region, pointing out that the new administration under President
Barack Obama supports dialogue rather than isolation.

Mercan was part of a parliamentary delegation from Turkey in the US
capital for a week for talks with members of Congress and officials
from the State Department.

"Our goal was to have meetings with the new Congress after Obama began
his term in office. We had talks with 12 congressmen. We went into the
details of Turkish-American relations and exchanged views," Mercan, of
the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), was quoted by the
Anatolia news agency as saying yesterday, during a press conference in
Washington.

"Maybe for the first time, policies pursued in the region by the new
American administration and Turkey are very similar," Mercan said,
noting that the new US administration had favored dialogue rather than
isolation.

Mercan also said they explained Turkey’s position regarding the
incidents of 1915, the killings of Anatolia Armenians during World War
I, during their meetings, while expressing satisfaction with the
atmosphere of these talks. The main message they conveyed to
Washington was that official US recognition of the controversial
Armenian allegations of genocide might harm Turkish-American relations
in the new term and might also spoil the positive atmosphere in the
region, Mercan said, noting he didn’t expect a resolution for the
official recognition of the Armenian allegations to be on the agenda
of Congress in the near future.

In 2007, US-Turkish relations deteriorated when Congress took up the
issue against the wishes of then-President George W. Bush’s
administration. Ankara rejects allegations of genocide.

07 March 2009, Saturday
TODAY’S ZAMAN WITH WIRES ANKARA

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress