Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel. (202) 775-1918
Fax. (202) 775-5648
Email. anca@anca.org
Internet

PRESS RELEASE

December 8, 2009
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

LEVERAGING TURKEY-ARMENIA PROTOCOLS,
ERDOGAN PRESSES ADVANTAGE DURING DC VISIT

— Escalates Genocide Denial, Pushes Preconditions, Reinforces
Pressure on Nagorno Karabagh

— WATCH VIDEO:
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WASHINGTON, DC – Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
having secured at least temporarily, the silence of yet another
Administration on the Armenian Genocide, has used his U.S. visit to
further press Turkey’s advantage – dramatically escalating his
genocide denial rhetoric, reinforcing Turkey’s "Protocols"
preconditions for lifting its blockade of Armenia, and attempting
to use Ankara’s new found leverage in the Nagorno Karabagh peace
process to deliver a pro-Azerbaijani settlement of this conflict,
reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

"Today, more than seven months into the silence of yet another U.S.
Administration on the Armenian Genocide, it’s painfully clear that
Erdogan has not, as President Obama had hoped, moved toward a full,
frank and just acknowledgement of the facts – but rather sprinted
in exactly the opposite direction, dramatically ramping up his
denial rhetoric and pressing more aggressively against U.S.
recognition of this crime," said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director
of the ANCA. "As we’ve said from day one, for Erdogan and his
government, the Protocols are not about peace. They represent
simply another tactic by Turkey to extend U.S. complicity in
Turkey’s denials from one April 24th to the next," added Hamparian.

In addition to escalating his Armenian Genocide denial demands,
Erdogan also made clear that his government would not respect
either of the two U.S. priorities for Turkey-Armenia normalization:
no preconditions and a reasonable timeframe. He continued to press
for both the two Turkish preconditions hardwired into the
Protocols, namely a historical "commission" and the confirmation of
borders, as well as a third unwritten precondition that the Nagorno
Karabagh issue be settled to Azerbaijan’s satisfaction. At the
same time, he firmly established that Turkey does not feel any
obligation to move forward in a timely manner.

Erdogan’s comments came during a press conference held at the
Willard Hotel, followed by a presentation at the Johns Hopkins
University School of Advanced and International Studies (SAIS) and
an evening speech at SETA-DC, touted as the only Turkish think tank
in Washington, DC. He will continue presentations on Tuesday at
the German Marshall Fund and later do a PBS television interview
with Charlie Rose.

During his think tank appearances, Prime Minister Erdogan
pontificated – often in a lecturing and self-righteous tone – on a
broad range of topics, from foreign policy to climate change and
world poverty. The formats of these presentations, which featured
highly controlled third-party participation, lent themselves to
this type of one-way communication. The only exceptions were the
few questions, submitted in writing, dealing with the Armenian
Genocide and freedom of speech in Turkey. Both of these topics
sparked angry and unscripted responses from Erdogan.

Asked during his Johns Hopkins presentation by ANCA Communications
Director Elizabeth Chouldjian about his thoughts on repeated
statements by President Obama that his views had not changed on the
"events on 1915," Erdogan descended into a strident diatribe of
denial of the Armenian Genocide, dismissing decades of scholarship
documenting the systematic destruction of the Armenian population
from 1915-1923. "My ancestors have never committed genocide,"
asserted Erdogan. "This is, in my opinion, not possible… Those
people who speak of genocide, I don’t know what documentation they
base it on."

Asked about recent Congressional rebuke of media repression in
Turkey, Prime Minister Erdogan denied that there are restrictions
on the press in Turkey, stating, "The press in Turkey is perhaps
freer than the press in the U.S. – much more so, in my opinion."

At SETA-DC, in response to a question on the ratification timeline
of the Turkey-Armenia protocols, Prime Minister Erdogan stated
that: "There are certain connections, which need to be taken into
consideration, the first one of which being the relations between
Azerbaijan and Armenia. There is at the moment this concern in the
Parliament and that’s why we called the MINSK group – the United
States, Russian Federation and France especially – to move forward
in this area. If they can work on the Nagarno-Karabakh problem
between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which has been ongoing for the last
20 years and if progress can be made towards a solution to the
problem of Nagorno-Karabagh, then not only will problems between
Azerbaijan and Armenia be resolved but also there will be a
positive contribution to the process between Turkey and Armenia,
whereby the parliaments will reflect upon their work, the good will
and progress in the issue of Nagarno-Karabagh, and this what we
would like to see happen."