IN TALKS WITH OBAMA, TURKISH LEADERS TO DISCUSS KARABAKH, GENOCIDE, ARMENIA TIES
_3/27/2009_1
Friday March 27, 2009
ANKARA (Combined Sources)–The Armenian Genocide, Turkish-Armenian
relations, and ongoing peace talks around the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict will be on the agenda of talks between Turkey’s leaders and
US President Barack Obama on his upcoming visit to Ankara early April,
Turkish and Azeri news agencies reported on Friday.
Speaking in a televised interview on Friday, Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he would underscore several issues
during Obama’s visit, including Turkey’s position on the Middle East,
South Caucasus and Central Asia, the Azeri Trend News agency reported.
Erdogan’s remarks come less than a week ahead of Obama’s scheduled
visit and only five weeks ahead of April 24, the day internationally
commemorated as the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Obama’s
Ankara trip, which will take place between April 6-7, was announced
on March 7 during an official visit to Ankara by US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton.
The LA Times reported on March 17 that Obama’s administration has
been soliciting Ankara’s help on Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and other
security issues. Erodgan is expected to play up Turkey’s ability to
help the United States in confrontations and conflicts that stretch
from Israel to Afghanistan — via Syria, Iraq and Iran — and from
Cyprus to the Caucasus.
"I do not find the level of Turkey-U.S. relations adequate. I believe
the relations between Turkey and the United States should be enhanced,"
Erdogan said.
According to Trend, Erdogan also said the talks would focus on,
among other things, how the United States could play a leading
role in resolving lingering conflicts in the Caucasus, including
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the impasse created by the
Russian-Georgian war last August.
The Turkish Prime Minister was quoted by Trend as saying that a
solution to the "problems between Azerbaijan and Armenia will help
overcome the difficulties in relations between Turkey and Armenia."
The Turkish World Bulletin online news portal, meanwhile, reported
that Erodogan said the "incidents of 1915" would also be on the agenda
of talks with Obama.
Turkish President Gul also spoke on the issue in Brussels Friday,
echoing his Prime Minister’s sentiments and telling reporters that
President Obama’s visit to Turkey would underscore "Turkey’s global
importance."
"There are strategic and quite important relations between Turkey
and the U.S. Those relations go beyond the issues concerning
our countries," Gul told a press conference before leaving for
Ankara. "Turkey and the United States hold perpetual consultations
about regional and international developments from Afghanistan to
the Middle East."
He said Turkey is pleased with Obama’s decision to pay a visit to
the country, and added this will enable the countries to hold mutual
consultations on a range of issues.
Ankara and its hired lobbyists in Washington have argued that Turkey is
a valuable ally to have as the new administration prepares to withdraw
its troops from Iraq, to boost troops in Afghanistan and to seek peace
in the Middle East. Official Ankara signaled last week that it would
be willing to allow the transit of U.S. troops through the country.
But despite winds of optimism on the future of Turkish-American
relations, the first fissure between the two governments has already
emerged on the suspension of the International Criminal Court’s
(ICC) indictment of Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir. Turkey favors
a deferral and looks set to vote in that direction if a vote takes
place at the United Nations Security Council, despite requests to do
the opposite from the Barack Obama administration.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
