ARMENIA-TURKEY RECONCILIATION MAY BE SIGN OF DETERIORATION IN US-TURKISH TIES: HURRIYET

NEWS.am
14:38 / 12/10/2009

"Failure to implement the Ankara-Yerevan normalization deal will
likely strengthen ‘genocide bills’ in US Congress," Turkish Hurriyet
daily reports.

"Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s talks with U.S. President
Barack Obama at the White House earlier this week have mostly been
viewed as a success by analysts. However, an uphill reconciliation
process between Turkey and Armenia may be the sign of a creeping
deterioration in U.S.-Turkish ties next year," the source reads.

"The issue at the root of the problem is the unresolved
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Turkey’s
close friend and ally. Erdogan told Obama that reopening the border
before progress is achieved in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict would ruin
Turkey’s ties with Azerbaijan and be viewed as completely unacceptable
to Turkish voters," the daily informs. "The normalization process
between Turkey and Armenia is very much related to these issues,"
Erdogan emphasized.

"But even at a time when Washington is pushing for the normalization
process to be implemented ‘without preconditions and within a
reasonable timeframe,’ analysts agree that strong progress toward
putting an end to the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute seems unlikely, at
least in the short term. These all point to a potential stall in the
Turkey-Armenia reconciliation process," the source outlines.