Anadolu Agency, Turkey
April 8 2010

Turkish minister hopes for "normalized" relations with USA after
premier’s visit

Ankara, 8 April: The Turkish foreign trade minister said on Thursday
[8 April] he hoped that the relations between Turkey and the United
States would be normalized thanks to Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to the United States this weekend.

During a meeting in Ankara with trade counsellors and attaches of
America and Africa, Turkey’s State Minister Zafer Caglayan said the
number of Turkey’s commercial counsellors should be increased. "There
are 115 commercial counsellors in 77 countries. We will raise this
number to 250 by 2012," he said.

In regard to the Turkish prime minister’s visit to the United States,
Caglayan said a new order would be adopted in trade between Turkey and
the United States.

Recalling that foreign relations committee of the United States House
of Representatives adopted a resolution on 4 March that supported
Armenian allegations regarding the incidents of 1915, Caglayan said
this development overshadowed a model partnership which was set to
begin between the two countries.

Historians should deal with this issue, not parliaments or
parliamentarians, he said.

Caglayan said he hoped that the relations between Turkey and the
United States would be normalized thanks to Erdogan’s visit to the
United States this weekend.