Commercial Appeal
June 2 2007
Cohen seeking Turkey meeting
By Bartholomew Sullivan
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., hopes that he succeeded
in getting a major conference on U.S.-Turkey relations to come to
Memphis during next year’s Memphis in May International Festival.
Cohen returned Friday from a fact-finding trip to Turkey underwritten
by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a Washington
think-tank, and the Association of Former Members of Congress. He was
reached by phone at the airport in Chicago.
He said he learned a lot about issues roiling Turkey, but that the
"most productive thing" was persuading the U.S.-Turkey Study Group to
come to Memphis next year. That would mean a large group of Turkish
and American politicians, academics and business leaders would come
to town, with a substantial economic impact.
"Memphis in May, as I understand it — and it may not have been
announced yet, but as I understand it — Memphis in May is going to
honor Turkey next year," he said. "I was promoting Memphis on the
trip … and I believe we’re going to be able to bring the
Turkey-U.S. Study Group to Memphis during Memphis in May."
Cohen said he was lobbied by both sides on a resolution pending in
Congress to condemn what some call the Armenian genocide of 1915. And
he learned about the rights of the Greek, Armenian and Jewish
minorities in a country that’s more than 95 percent Muslim but whose
government has been struggling to retain its secular convictions.
He met with the Armenian patriarch, the Greek patriarch and the chief
rabbinate and visited the Blue Mosque, as well, he said.
In meetings with politicians and business leaders, he said he was
told that Turkey hopes that Iraq remains one country, mainly because
of Turkey’s experience with the PKK, a Kurdish independence movement
operating in the western parts of Turkey and in northern Iraq
demanding a Kurdish state in the region.
Washington correspondent Bartholomew Sullivan can be reached at (202)
408-2726.
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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
