TURKEY EXPECTS U.S. ADMINISTRATION TO EXERT EFFORTS AGAINST ARMENIAN RESOLUTION
Journal of Turkish Daily
March 2 2010
Ahead of the March 4 vote in the U.S. House foreign affairs committee
regarding a resolution on Armenian allegations related to the incidents
of 1915, Turkey expects Obama administration to exert more efforts
against the resolution.
A group of Turkish lawmakers arrived in Washington D.C. on Monday to
meet with U.S. Congressmen to lobby against the resolution.
Turkish lawmakers led by Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Commission
Chairman Murat Mercan voiced their expectations from the U.S.
administration at a press conference in Washington D.C..
Mercan said that the resolution would not serve the interests of
Turkey and the United States. He said the resolution would harm
bilateral relations.
In 2007, the U.S. committee approved a similar resolution 27-21,
even though the former U.S. president George W. Bush and other key
figures from the U.S. administration lobbied against it.
"National assemblies can never make a decision or a judgement on
so-called genocide. This is, of course, a decision that international
courts can make," Mercan told reporters.
Another Turkish lawmaker Sukru Elekdag, who is also a former Turkish
ambassador to United States, said that U.S. administration should
not lose Turkish people’s trust.
"What we will tell our interlocutors is ‘do not lose this trust’. And
this is not an empty talk," Elekdag said.