TURKEY SHOULD BE A STEP AHEAD IN ARMENIAN RELATIONS, WEXLER SAYS

Today’s Zaman
Feb 19 2010
Turkey

Robert Wexler, a former US congressman from Florida and co-chairman
of the Congressional Caucus on US-Turkish Relations who recently
resigned from Congress to accept an offer to head the S. Daniel Abraham
Center for Middle East Peace has proposed that Turkey adopt a policy
concerning its relations with Armenia that is similar to its policy of
"being one step ahead" on the Cyprus issue.

The former US congressman, who gave a conference at the Foundation for
Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) in Washington titled
"Model Partnership: Creative Approaches to US-Turkey Relations"
on Wednesday, praised the steps taken by the Turkish and Armenian
governments to solve their problems and the political risks they had
taken on the road to normalization of bilateral relations. Responding
to a question about his message for Turkey regarding the ratification
of protocols signed by Turkey and Armenia for the normalization of
ties between the two estranged neighbors, Wexler stated that he has
always refrained from imposing a strategy on Turkey or on any other
party. Recalling that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan previously
said concerning the Cyprus issue that Turkey would always be one
step ahead for peace, he suggested that Turkey do the same for the
Armenian issue. He highlighted that this is for the benefit of both
Turkey and its friends in the US.

Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan earlier this week submitted
to parliament for ratification two protocols on normalizing ties
with Turkey after decades of hostility. He stated, however, that
he expected Turkey to ratify and start implementing the protocols
before Armenia. The Turkish government has already sent the protocols
to Parliament for ratification, a procedural requirement. However,
the protocols hit a roadblock as a result of a sub-annex the Armenian
constitutional court attached to the protocols. In a ruling on whether
the proposed protocols were constitutional, Armenia’s constitutional
court approved the protocols signed in October. Yet in its ruling
dated Jan. 12 the court referred to the country’s Declaration of
Independence, which calls for the recognition of the 1915 killings of
Armenians under Ottoman rule as genocide. Turkey accepts that many
Armenians died under the Ottoman Turks but denies that up to 1.5
million perished or that it amounts to genocide, saying many Muslims
died as well. While commenting on Turkish-Armenian relations and
protocols signed between the countries as well as resolutions pending
in the US Congress endorsing the genocide claims, Wexler said leaders
of all parties, including the US, should make sure that tensions do
not escalate.

Wexler also shared his views regarding Turkey’s current foreign
policy and said it cannot be argued that Turkey is heading towards the
East when steps taken by the country as part of the EU harmonization
process are taken into consideration. Noting that Turkey is far more
democratic and liberal a country now than in previous years, he said
Turkey is the country where East and West meet rather than a country
where East and West clash.