TURKEY SAYS ACCORD REACHED WITH ARMENIA ON ROADMAP

AP
2009-04-22 23:47:05

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Turkey and Armenia have made solid progress
toward reconciliation and reached agreement on a roadmap to normalize
ties, a foreign ministry statement said Wednesday. The statement
said the two countries have reached a framework agreement to work
for a solution that will satisfy both sides. The development came
just weeks after President Barack Obama, during a visit here, called
on Turkey to reckon with its past, resolve its dispute with Armenia
and reopen their shared border. The European Union has also mounted
similar pressure on Turkey, which is a candidate for EU membership.

Obama’s call on this U.S. ally and predominantly Muslim country in
early April heated up a public debate over what course Turkey should
take in relations with Armenia. Turkey’s government had already
been working to improve ties with Armenia while facing deep-seated
antagonism toward Armenia rooted in WWI-era killings and opposition
from nationalists who oppose against concessions. The accord
was announced hours after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton praised what she described as bold reconciliation efforts
between Turkey and Armenia. "Turkey and Armenia with the mediation
of Switzerland have been engaged in intensive efforts to normalize
their bilateral ties, develop good neighborly relations in mutual
respect and progress peace, security and20 stability in the entire
region," the Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said. "Both sides have
recorded solid progress and reached mutual understanding to normalize
ties in a way to satisfy both sides, agreeing on a comprehensive
framework. Within this framework, a roadmap has been determined.

A senior government official, however, said the agreement did not
mean Turkey was ready to open the Turkish-Armenian border, closed
in 1993. "It is out of question," he said, speaking on condition
of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to media. Turkey
wants its talks with Armenia to advance in parallel with negotiations
between Armenia and Azerbaijan over disputed territory controlled by
Armenia. Turkey closed the border in support of Azerbaijan during its
conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Turkey backs
Azerbaijan’s claims to the disputed region, which has a high number of
ethnic Armenian residents but is located within Azerbaijan’s borders.

Clinton said the United States has assured Azerbaijan it will intensify
efforts to resolve the dispute. It was not immediately clear how
Turkey and Armenia would tackle the sensitive and divisive issue
of the Ottoman-era killings of Armenians. Armenians say 1.5 million
Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War
I in what Armenians and several other nations recognize as the first
genocide of the 20th century. Turkey vehemently rejects the allegat
ion, saying the death toll is inflated and Armenians were killed in
civil unrest as the Ottoman Empire collapsed. Turkey on Wednesday
recalled its ambassador to Canada, after government ministers there
reportedly took part in an event that labeled the Ottoman-era killings
of Armenians as genocide. Ambassador Rafet Akgunay was called back for
"thorough evaluations and consultations," Foreign Ministry spokesman
Burak Ozugergin said, without saying why Akgunay was recalled or for
how long. U.S. lawmakers have also introduced a resolution that would
call the deaths genocide. If passed, the resolution could undermine
efforts by Obama’s administration to win NATO ally Turkey’s help on
key foreign policy goals such as fighting terrorism in Afghanistan.

U.S. legislators almost passed a similar resolution two years ago,
but congressional leaders did not bring it up for a vote after
intense pressure from the Bush administration. Obama avoided the term
"genocide" when he addressed Turkish lawmakers during his visit early
April. But he said, in response to a question, that he had not changed
his views. As a presidential candidate, Obama said the killings
amounted to genocide. Armenia and Turkey do not have diplomatic
relations and, despite overtures including Turkey’s opening of an
air corridor to the landlocked country, they have failed to establish
a commission of historians to examine Turkish and Armenian archives
and to share their 0Afindings with the public.

However, they have been in closer contact since Turkey’s President
Abdullah Gul visited Armenia in September 2008 to watch a World Cup
qualifying match as a goodwill gesture. The agreement has provided
"a positive perspective" for the ongoing process, the foreign ministry
statement said.