TURKEY TO LAUNCH ARMENIAN-LANGUAGE RADIO STATION
Reuters
March 20 2009
UK
ANKARA, March 20 (Reuters) – Turkey’s state broadcaster plans to launch
an Armenian-language radio station, Anatolian state news agency said
on Friday, amid tentative moves by Turkey and its neighbour Armenia
towards restoring diplomatic ties.
Relations between the two countries are haunted by the killing of
Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War One, which Armenia says
amounted to genocide. Ankara accepts many Armenians were killed,
but denies genocide was committed.
Since then large numbers of Armenian speakers have left Turkey but
some 40-50,000 remain, mostly in Istanbul.
"At this stage, we will refrain from any comments," an Armenian
Foreign Ministry spokesman said when asked about the report of the
planned radio station on Friday.
The announcement comes as some U.S. lawmakers, ahead of a visit by
President Barack Obama to Turkey on April 6-7, are renewing a push
to brand the 1915 massacre genocide.
Ankara has warned that a new resolution by the U.S. Congress could
seriously hurt Washington’s ties with NATO ally Turkey.
It also argues such a resolution would derail the drive to mend
relations with Armenia, including moves to open the border.
Anatolian said the Armenian-language channel should go on air in
"two to three months." The official day of remembrance in Armenia is
April 24.
The genocide issue, which caused U.S.-Turkish relations to plummet
in 2007, threatens to complicate Obama’s trip as Washington hopes to
work closely with Turkey on Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle East and
the Caucasus.
During his 2008 campaign for the White House, Obama referred to
the killings of Armenians in World War One as genocide. Obama is
now confronted with a choice between breaking a campaign pledge or
risking defence ties with Turkey.
Turkey and Armenia have no formal diplomatic relations but officials
have held recent tentative discussions.
Anatolian said state-run Turkish Radio and Television Corp (TRT), which
launched a television channel in the once-banned Kurdish language in
January, also planned to launch a Kurdish radio channel.