OBAMA, GUL DISCUSS TURKISH-ARMENIAN TIES

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19.10.2009

U.S. President Barack Obama reaffirmed his strong support for the
normalization of Armenia’s relations with Turkey in a weekend phone
call with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul.

The White House said Obama and Gul discussed on Saturday a range of
issues of mutual interest, including the landmark Turkish-Armenian
agreements signed in Zurich on October 10.

"The two Presidents discussed the historic progress that is being
made on normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia, and
the importance of maintaining the momentum in this important effort,"
it said in a statement. No further details were reported.

The U.S. support for the process was underscored by Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton’s presence at the signing ceremony in the Swiss city
that was nearly disrupted by a last-minute dispute between the Armenian
and Turkish foreign ministers. Obama was quick to praise Clinton for
helping to work out a compromise arrangement that salvaged the deal.

Obama made a point of phoning President Serzh Sarkisian earlier this
month during the latter’s tense visit to the United States aimed
at explaining his conciliatory line on Turkey to the influential
Armenian-American community. He praised Sarkisian’s "courageous
leadership" and encouraged the Armenian leader to stay the course.

Both Clinton and other top U.S. officials said that the two states
should establish diplomatic relations and open the Turkish-Armenian
border "without preconditions and within a reasonable timeframe."

However, there were further indications on Monday that Ankara will
not rush to ratify the agreements if the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
remains unresolved in the coming months.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that his government will continue
to unequivocally support Azerbaijan in the bitter dispute with
Armenia. "Azeri soil is as sacred for us as our own and liberating
this soil from occupation is one of our primary national issues,"
Davutoglu told reporters in Ankara.

"Even if the skies fall down, Turkey’s position will not change… Our
policy on ending the occupation… will continue until the problem
is resolved," he said, according to AFP.

Gul also sought to reassure Baku, which believes that an open border
with Turkey would only strengthen the Armenians economically and
thereby discourage them from seeking a solution to the Karabakh
conflict. "The fact that a country is occupying the territory
of another country is unacceptable," he told the French magazine
"L’Express" in an interview published on Monday.

The statements came amid Azerbaijan’s growing frustration with the
Turkish government’s policy of rapprochement with its arch-foe.

President Ilham Aliyev on Friday threatened to stop selling natural gas
to Turkey at low prices and said Baku will consider routes other than
Turkey to ship the gas to Europe. Also, media reports said Turkish
flags were removed from a Baku cemetery, where Turkish soldiers who
fought for Azerbaijan in the early 20th century are buried.

In his interview with "L’Express" cited by "Hurriyet Daily
News," Gul also indicated that Ankara would accept any verdict
by a Turkish-Armenian "subcommission" of historians which the two
governments plan to form as part of their accord. The panel is expected
to look into the 1915 mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

"Let a committee of historians, even experts of the subject from third
countries, work on this issue. We will recognize its conclusions,"
said the Turkish president.

The Armenian government insists that the subcommission would not be
tasked with determining whether the massacres constituted a genocide.

But its critics in Armenia and its worldwide Diaspora counter that
the Turkish government would exploit the very existence of such a
body to deter more countries, notably the U.S, from adopting Armenian
genocide resolutions.

Gul chided Diaspora critics for maintaining that Turkey must recognize
the genocide before it can make peace with the Armenians. "The
Armenians living in France are far from Armenia," he said. "If they
want to lend their support to the Armenians of Armenia, they must
support the process."