TURKISH MEDIA SAYS ARMENIAN-TURKISH STATEMENT SIGNED UNDER PRESSURE
Panorama.am
12:48 29/04/2009
Turkish "Hurriyet" published an article about the recent developments
of the Armenian-Turkish relations stressing that the statement signed
by both countries has been a result of pressure on Turkey by the
American Administration. Referring to their diplomatic sources, the
paper writes that an implicit threat by U.S. President Barack Obama
to use the word "genocide" in his April 24 address, made Turkey sign
the deal.
According to the paper it was first used by Obama implicitly in an
April 7 meeting with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and later
U.S. negotiators were increasingly straightforward as they pushed their
clout. The deal was concluded on April 22 after lengthy negotiations in
both Yerevan and Ankara, under the mediation of U.S. officials. Mattew
Bryza, U.S. assistant secretary of state, conducted 14 hours of
marathon talks with the Armenians in Yerevan, while talks in Ankara
were conducted between the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey
and Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ertugrul Apakan.