ANKARA DEFIES US PRESSURE ON NORMALIZATION PROCESS WITH ARMENIA
Today’s Zaman
Feb 9 2010
Turkey
Already annoyed by an Armenian court ruling which it says threatens
agreements to normalize relations with Yerevan, Ankara is highly
uncomfortable with a planned vote in a US congressional committee
next month on a resolution to label the World War I-era killings
of Armenians in the late Ottoman Empire as "genocide," because it
regards the timing of such move as an indication of pressure being
imposed on Turkey.
Howard Berman (D-Cali.), the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign
Affairs Committee, said on Friday he intended to call a committee vote
on the non-binding resolution on March 4. The resolution would call
on President Barack Obama to ensure that US policy formally refers
to the events as "genocide" and to use that term when he delivers
his annual message on the issue in April — something Obama avoided
doing last year.
The panel approved a similar bill in 2007 but it was never put to a
full House vote amid fears among both Democrats and Republicans that
it would alienate Turkey.
The US move came at a time when a top Turkish diplomat was already
scheduled to visit Washington in the coming weeks to express Turkey’s
concerns over the Armenian Constitutional Court’s ruling. Now, the US
committee’s planned vote also be on agenda of the upcoming talks in
Washington between US officials and Ambassador Feridun Sinirlioglu,
an undersecretary of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, which will take
place weeks before April 24, the "genocide" commemoration day.
After months of Swiss mediation and US encouragement, Turkey and
Armenia signed two protocols in October 2009 to establish diplomatic
ties and reopen their shared border. However, the process hit rocky
ground after the Armenian court upheld the legality of the protocols
but underlined that they could not contradict Yerevan’s official
position that the alleged Armenian genocide must be internationally
recognized.
Turkey accused Yerevan of trying to rewrite and set conditions on the
deals. Armenia’s president and foreign minister have warned that the
rapprochement is under threat of collapse.
The move in Washington added insult to injury as Ankara believes
that US pressure on such sensitive processes will backfire and will
in the end help neither Turkey nor Armenia.
While in Munich on Saturday to attend an international security
conference, Davutoglu held bilateral talks with US Deputy Secretary
of State James Steinberg, who arrived in Munich from Yerevan, where
last week he met with Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan and Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandyan.
In addition to Steinberg, Davutoglu also held talks on the issue
with US National Security Advisor James Jones and Richard Holbrooke,
the US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Davutoglu conveyed his concerns to all three US officials over both
the planned vote in the US House committee and the ruling by the
Armenian Constitutional Court.
Ankara has been explaining to Washington that the normalization
process with Armenia did not start due to US pressure. Imposing
pressure on Turkey has never yielded positive outcomes throughout
history, Turkish officials have also told US officials, diplomatic
sources told Today’s Zaman.
While explaining its beliefs, Ankara gave as an example the Turkish
Parliament’s refusal of a government motion on March 1, 2003, to
allow US troops to open up a northern front against Iraq from Turkey,
thus leading to the reference to a "March 1 syndrome" when talking
about the bilateral relationship of the two NATO allies. Parliament’s
decision at the time came despite strong US pressure, showing that
this pressure actually backfired, Ankara told Washington.
Turkey accepts that many Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks but
denies that up to 1.5 million died and that it amounts to genocide,
saying many Muslims also died as Armenians revolted in an attempt to
create an Armenian state in eastern Anatolia in collaboration with
Russian forces. Turkish officials have warned that any new attempt in
US Congress to brand the killings as genocide could damage US-Turkish
ties.
Turkish governmental officials, speaking with Today’s Zaman, expressed
their conviction that Ankara believes the timing of three particular
incidents in recent weeks is not coincident at all; respectively
referring to the reasoning of the Armenian constitutional court’s
decision on Jan. 12, Armenia’s irreconcilable attitude concerning the
Nagorno-Karabakh dispute during talks hosted by Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev in Sochi, Russia, on Jan. 25; and finally Friday’s
announcement concerning the planned vote in the US House Committee.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
