Pro-Turkish Congressmen Support Protocols
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By Asbarez Staff on Sep 24th,
WASHINGTON -Three US congressmen who are the members of the
Congressional Friendship Group on Turkey sent a letter to their
colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives, urging support for
the rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia, and in particular the
current Armenia-Turkey protocols, the Anatolian News Agency reported
Thursday.
In their letter, U.S. congressmen Robert Wexler, Edward Whitfield and
Kay Granger supported the August 31 joint declaration of Turkey,
Armenia and Switzerland announcing the protocols that will guide the
establishment and development of relations between Turkey and Armenia.
The three congressmen called on their colleagues to support
normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations and said the trilateral
declaration made by the governments of Turkey, Armenia and Switzerland
on August 31 made public two protocols and a schedule to normalize
relations.
They also encouraged the Turkish and Armenian governments and their
parliaments to move forward with the rapprochement process, with the
support of the Swiss government, and to build a better future for
Turkey, Armenia and the entire South Caucasus.
Wexler, Whitfield and Granger said that as far as they were concerned,
Turkish and Armenian leaders would most probably meet in New York on
the sidelines of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly.
Underscoring what they considered to be a historic development in the
region, the congressmen said they hoped this meeting would bring the
two countries closer to each other, and lay the groundwork for a
planned visit of Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian to Turkey to watch
a World Cup qualifier on October 14.
The co-chairmen said Turkey and Armenia had been having internal
consultations for six weeks, and they were expected to sign protocols
at the end of the six weeks and present them to their parliaments for
approval.
The protocols claim to pave the way for improving bilateral relations
between Turkey and Armenia, particularly establishing diplomatic
relations, commercial and economic cooperation, the congressmen said.
They letter also said the protocol on improving bilateral relations
would ensure confidence for fulfillment of articles of the two
protocols and added that the significant progress of Turkey and
Armenia for normalizing their bilateral relations was encouraging.