US PRESIDENT WARNS IRAN AS HE VISITS TURKEY
Al-Arab Online
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April 6 2009
US President Barack Obama on Monday used his first visit as US
president to a Muslim nation to warn that Iran had to make a choice
between having a nuclear weapon and building a better future for
its people.
"I have made it clear to the people and leaders of the Islamic Republic
that the United States seeks engagement based upon mutual interests
and mutual respect," Obama said in address to the Turkish parliament.
"Now, Iran’s leaders must choose whether they will try to build a
weapon or build a better future for their people."
Obama also stood by his views on mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman
Turks in 1915, which he has termed genocide, but said he expected a
breakthrough in talks between Turkey and Armenia.
Ankara and Yerevan are engaged in negotiations aimed at restoring
full diplomatic ties after nearly a century of hostilities, and may
be on the point of reopening their border.
Obama, asked about the historical controversy during a two-day visit
to Turkey, said he had not changed his mind, but sought to shift the
focus onto the Turkish-Armenian talks.
"My views are on the record and I have not changed those views,"
he told a joint news conference with Turkish President Abdullah Gul.
As a candidate, Obama pledged to call the killings genocide, which
Ankara rejects, and a resolution to so designate them was introduced
in the U.S. House of Representatives last month. The issue has hurt
ties between the two NATO allies before.
"I want to be as encouraging as possible around those negotiations
which are moving forward and could bear fruit very quickly, very soon,
so as a consequence what I want to do is not focus on my views right
now," Obama said, seeking to strike a balance over the issue while
adding pressure on the talks.
A breakthrough between Turkey and Armenia could help shore up
stability in the volatile Caucasus, criss-crossed by oil and gas
pipelines which make it of strategic importance to Russia, Europe
and the United States.
Gul, who has spearheaded talks between Ankara and Yerevan, also said
he expected them to bear fruit soon.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with
Azerbaijan, which was fighting Armenian-backed separatists over the
breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.
"When our government came to power there were almost no relations
between Turkey and Armenia," Gul said.
"Now we are in talks with Armenia to normalise relations. I hope
these talks will yield the best possible result."
Azerbaijan, which fears a Turkish-Armenian rapprochement would weaken
its hand in the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, has said a decision by Ankara
to open the border with Armenia before Yerevan withdraws its troops
from the enclave would be "counter to Azerbaijan’s national interests".
Turkish officials have warned that any new attempt in Congress to
brand the killings as genocide could damage U.S.-Turkish ties and
derail the Turkish-Armenian talks.
Obama is in Turkey to rebuild ties with the Muslim country, whose
help he needs to solve confrontations from Iran to Afghanistan.
Turkey accepts that many Christian Armenians were killed by Ottoman
Turks during World War One but strongly denies that up to 1.5 million
died as a result of genocide.