, Turkey
March 8 2009

Babacan: US perceives Turkey’s sensitivity over Armenian issue

Turkey’s foreign minister said on Saturday that the current
U.S. administration perceived Turkey’s opinion and sensitivity
regarding the incidents of 1915.

Sunday, 08 March 2009 11:18

Speaking at a joint press conference after his meeting with Foreign
Minister Alejandro Hamed Franco of Paraguay in Ankara, Babacan said
that incidents of 1915 were also on the agenda of his talks with
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Upon a question on whether Turkey’s concerns regarding
U.S. president’s stance on such issue were expressed during the talks,
Babacan said, "I can easily say that the current U.S. administration
perceives Turkey’s opninon and sensitivity on this matter. We have no
difficulties with communication in that sense".

Babacan also said that he hoped such issue could be solved without any
problems and without overshadowing the relations between Turkey and
USA.

Replying to a question on whether Turkey expressed any demand for the
solution of the PKK problem before USA’s withdrawal from Iraq, Babacan
said the details of the withdrawal plan were not clear yet.

"However, there is no connection between the PKK issue and the
withdrawal process. Such a connection was expressed neither by us, nor
by them. There is a tripartite mechanism in Iraq and sharing of
intelligence and coordination of military units continue within such
framework," he said.

Commenting on Cyprus issue as well, Babacan said USA paid close
attention to Cyprus and such matter was discussed in a detailed way
during his meeting with Clinton.

AA