GONUL TELLS GATES "THE DAY AFTER WILL NOT BE GOOD"

The New Anatolian, Turkey
Oct 9 2007

Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of
Defense Robert Gates on Monday warning that the passage of an
Armenian genocide bill in the House of Representatives jeopardize
Turkish-American relations.

In his letter, Gonul emphasized that the bill 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 U.S. peoples.

On the other hand, the Ministry sent letters to U.S. defense industry
firms– that carry out joint projects with Turkey. In these letters,
the National Defense Ministry asked the U.S. firms to lobby against
the bill.

"We will do what it takes to defeat a bill at the U.S. House of
Representatives that supports Armenian arguments regarding the
incidents of 1915. Turkey has important trump cards in its hands,"
said Justice & Development (AK) Party Deputy Chairman and deputy
Egemen Bagis on Monday.

Speaking to reporters at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport, Bagis indicated
that "Turkey has several options in the event the bill gets adopted
at the U.S. House of Representatives. We will decide on what to do
whether the bill would be adopted at the Foreign Relations Committee
of the House of Representatives."