TURKISH DEFENCE MINISTER SENDS LETTERS TO US COUNTERPART, FIRMS ON ARMENIAN BILL
Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
Oct 8 2007
"DEFENCE MINISTER GONUL SENDS LETTER TO HIS AMERICAN COUNTERPART" –
AA headline
ANKARA (A.A) 08.10.2007 – Turkish National Defence Minister Vecdi
Gonul sent a letter to US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates on
Monday. The letter is about a draft bill, backing Armenian theses on
1915 incidents.
The bill is to be debated at a committee at the House of
Representatives, the lower chamber of the US Congress.
In his letter, Gonul emphasized that the bill risks to jeopardize
Turkish-US relations. He said that it can have negative impact on
relations, if adopted.
"It will be difficult to keep reactions of Turkish public under
control in such a case," he noted.
Gonul added that adoption of the bill will not serve interests of
Turkish and US peoples.
On the other hand, the ministry sent letters to US defence industry
firms – that carry out joint projects with Turkey. In these letters,
the National Defence Ministry asked the US firms to lobby against
the bill.