Hürriyet, Turkey
Feb 21 2009

Turkey-US relations to improve if no wrong steps on Armenian issue

Turkey hopes the new Washington administration will understand the
importance of the country before it takes a step to recognize the
Armenian claims regarding the 1915 incident, the Turkish ambassador to
the U.S. said.

"The Turkish nation is ready to struggle altogether (against the
efforts to have the Armenian claims recognized in the U.S.). Therefore
I hope that the officials in the new U.S. administration will
understand the importance of Turkey, the meaning of this issue to the
Turkish people and the harm it will bring to the Turkish-American
relations," Ambassador Nabi Sensoy told reporters in New York late on
Friday.

U.S. President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton had pledged to recognize the Armenian claims
during the election campaign.

So far the Washington administration had stepped in to block the
legislations in the Congress that would recognize the Armenian claims
due to the strategic partnership between Turkey and the U.S.

Sensoy recalled in 2007 he was called back to Ankara to protest the
attempts to have the Armenian claims recognized in the Congress.

"That happened for the first time in our history. This was a protest
of the American policy. Everybody understood the seriousness of the
issue and retreated from taking such wrong step. Now we face the same
danger," he was quoted as saying by the state-run Anatolian Agency.

The issue of the 1915 incidents is highly sensitive for Turkey as well
as Armenia. Around 300,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks, died
in civil strife that emerged when Armenians took up arms, backed by
Russia, for independence in eastern Anatolia.

However Armenia, with the backing of the diaspora, claims up to 1.5
million of their kin were slaughtered in orchestrated killings in
1915. The issue remains unsolved as Armenia drags its feet in
accepting Turkey’s proposal of forming a commission to investigate the
claims.

TURKEY-ARMENIA CLOSE TO NORMALIZATION

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has expressed his hopes for the
normalization of the relations with Armenia as well as both sides to
open up archives and the Yerevan administration is expected to adopt a
similar approach, Sensoy added.

"I am glad to declare that the two countries are close to normalizing
relations… I had gone through what happened in 2007 and I don’t want
to see this period repeated," the ambassador said, adding "We have to
focus on the positive sides of the bilateral relations."

He also warned that there is a good chance for Turkey and Armenia to
discuss directly the issues unless there is a legislation or statement
recognizing the Armenian claims regarding the 1915 incidents.

In a response to a question Sensoy said Obama was invited to the
Alliance of Civilizations meeting which will be held in Turkey in
April.