U.S. SAYS SUPPORTS TURKEY-ARMENIA NORMALIZATION PROCESS

Xinhua General News Service
February 16, 2010 Tuesday 1:15 AM EST
China

U.S. Ambassador in Ankara James Jeffrey said Tuesday the United
States extended full support to the normalization process between
Turkey and Armenia, the semi- official Anatolia news agency reported.

Jeffrey made the remarks when asked if a bill to be discussed at the
U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee next month
regarding the controversial massive death of Armenians under Ottoman
rule in 1915 would undermine the bid of Turkey and Armenia to mend
long-time rifts.

Relations with Turkey were always at the forefront for the United
States, Jeffrey was quoted of telling reporters before meeting Turkish
Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Commission Chairman Murat Mercan and
other commission members.

Mercan said the commission would inform Jeffrey of its views about
the bill and discuss the recent developments in Turkish-U.S. relations.

Turkey and Armenia have been bogged down in a row over the 1915
incidents, which Armenia says was a genocide. Turkey denies that
charge and insists the Armenians were victims of widespread chaos and
governmental breakdown as the 600-year-old Ottoman Empire collapsed
before modern Turkey was born in 1923.

The two countries signed last October historic deals on normalizing
ties and reopening their borders after nearly a century of
hostilities. The agreements need to be ratified by both countries’
parliaments before taking effect.

Last month, the Armenian Constitutional Court upheld the protocols, but
ruled that the protocols should not breach the country’s Independence
Declaration, which says Armenia will always work for worldwide
recognition of the 1915 incidents as genocide.

Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic or economic ties since Armenia
declared its independence in 1991. Turkey closed its border with
Armenia in 1993 to support Azerbaijan, which had a territorial conflict
with Armenia over the Upper Karabakh region.