US LAWMAKER URGES TURKEY-ARMENIA RECONCILIATION

Anadolu Agency, Turkey
April 2 2015

02 April 2015 21:00 (Last updated 02 April 2015 21:02)

Republican congressman wants Obama to form committee to reconcile
Turkish-Armenian relations.

WASHINGTON

A U.S. lawmaker has asked President Barack Obama to set up a committee
to improve and enhance Turkish-Armenian relations.

“Turkey and Armenia are very important to the American interests,”
congressman Curt Clawson wrote in a letter to House colleagues
in an attempt to garner support for his resolution that seeks to
find reconciliation between the two states. “U.S interests (in the
region) can be advanced by both countries acting to cultivate peace
and understanding.”

Turkish-Armenian relations have long been marked by strong tensions
due to the events of 1915, when a certain number of Armenians were
relocated by the Ottoman Empire for supporting the Russian invasion
of Anatolia during World War I.

Clawson called on Obama “to designate a task force comprised of members
of Congress, administration officials and representatives from Turkey
and Armenia charged with working toward equitable, constructive,
stable and durable relations.”

“This is the first time that we see a draft bill of that kind in the
Congress,” said Derya Taskin, president of the New York-based Turkish
Institute for Progress.

She said she supports Clawson’s “historical,” bill and pointed out
that the Turkish Institute for Progress is also working to help
resolve Turkish-Armenian relations.

Several congressional committees have passed resolutions that accuse
Turkey of “genocide” during the 1915 events.

The Armenian diaspora in U.S. has at times been influential in getting
lawmakers to issue some of those resolutions.

The Turkish government has repeatedly called on historians to study
Ottoman archives pertaining to the era in order to uncover what
actually happened between the Ottoman government and its Armenian
citizens.

The debate on “genocide” and the differing opinions between the
present day Turkish government and the Armenian diaspora, along with
the current administration in Yerevan, still generates political
tension between Turks and Armenians.

Turkey’s official position against the “genocide” allegations is
that they acknowledge that the past experiences were a great tragedy
and that both parties suffered heavy casualties, including hundreds
of Muslim Turks. Turkey agrees that there were certainly Armenian
casualties during World War I, but that it is impossible to define
these incidents as “genocide.”