ANKARA DISSATISFIED WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA’S MESSAGE
Hakob Chaqrian

AZG DAILY
29-04-2009

In the April 24 every year statement US President Barack Obama evaded
using the word ‘Genocide’ instead of it uttering the phrase ‘Great
atrocities’ (Medz Yeghern). The reason of it was probably the joint
statement of Armenian, Turkish and Swiss Foreign Ministers. The
Armenian Diaspora and especially the American-Armenians are
disappointed.

It is noteworthy that the official Ankara is also disappointed with
President Obama’s April 24 statement.

The reason for Ankara’s disappointment was the phrase
‘Great atrocities’ and mentioning of the mass killings of 1.5
Armenians. According to Ankara, it was the severest statement that
was ever made.

Apparently, the Turkish side had high hopes of the Foreign Ministers’
joint statement.

Anyway, according to the Turkish Public TV, President Obama’s April
24 statement provoked an angry reaction in Turkey.

In this connection, Turkish Grand National Assembly Speaker Koksal
Toptan said, "It is clear that honorable Obama is uninformed about
the incidents of 1915. These kinds of actions will have a serious
influence on the process of normalization of relations with Armenia
initiated by Turkey".

"We are not satisfied with the statement and find it as keeping
of election campaign promise. There are absolutely inadmissible
expressions in the statement. We support any fair expression
that doesn’t reflect the self-interested approach of the election
campaign. Turkey is not the country to be stroked and deceived",
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan added.