MAN-TO-MAN MARKING
Anatolian Times, Turkey
Turkish Press
Feb 12 2007
ANKARA – Following are the highlights from today’s Turkish daily
SABAH. The Anadolu Agency is not responsible of opinions expressed
or the context of the editorials and does not vouch for their accuracy:
"Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc and FM Abdullah Gul held
a meeting quietly after a bill on so-called Armenian genocide was
submitted to U.S. Congress.
According to their decision, 16 Turkish MPs will be dispatched to
Washington for man-to-man marking at the US Congress (to avoid the
passing of the bill)," wrote Sabah’s columnist Metehan Demir.
Ankara is getting prepared for a historical ‘invasion’ of Washington
to block the bill on the so-called Armenian genocide, which is expected
to be adopted at U.S. Congress in April.
Recently after some Congressmen –who are representing Armenian
interests in the United States– presented the bill, FM Gul and Arinc
held a meeting and decided to take action urgently.
According to the decision of Gul and Arinc, 16 Turkish deputies,
who has good command of English and experienced in foreign politics,
will be in Washington from February 10th till the end of March,
and will try to convince U.S. Congressmen.
First delegation will leave in the week Feb. 10-17. It will be
comprised of Yasar Yakis, Mehmet Dulger, Gulsum Bilgehan Toker,
Murat Mercan and Erol Cebeci.
The second delegation which has to leave between Feb. 24th and March
3rd, will be comprised of Saban Disli, Ibrahim Ozal, Inal Batu, Vahit
Erdem, Necdet Budak and Yakup Kepenek. The third delegation which will
include close names to Prime Minister will be in Washington between
March 11th and 18th. Egemen Bagis, Reha Denemec, Zeynep Damla Gurel,
Sukru Elekdag and Mevlut Cavusoglu will be part of this group.
Washington operation will not be limited to those initiatives. The
Union of Chambers & Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) will also
send 32 more deputies who know the United States well and have close
contact with prominent figures there. This delegation will closely
follow-up U.S. business community.
FM Gul will leave for Washington this weekend and will carry the
message "if the bill on the so-called Armenian genocide is adopted,
our strategic partnership will grow worse".
On the other hand, Premier Erdogan’s foreign policy advisor Egemen
Bagis is pursuing lobbying activities which he started a while ago in
political circles and think- tank organizations in the United States.
The bill will be debated first in foreign affairs committee of the
House of Representatives. If it is adopted in the committee, it will
be sent to general assembly.
Afterwards it will be within the capacity of Chairperson Nancy Pelosi
(who is known as an Armenian friend), whether to put it to vote or not.