PM ERDOGAN PLANS TALKS WITH US PRESIDENT OBAMA IN DECEMBER
Today’s Zaman
-pm-erdogan-plans-talks-with-us-president-obama-in -december.html
Sept 23 2009
Turkey
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he is planning to visit
Washington in December for talks with US President Barack Obama.
Erdogan’s remarks on the planned visit came in New York on Tuesday
while speaking with Turkish reporters, the Anatolia news agency
reported. The prime minister has been in New York since Monday to
attend the UN General Assembly.
While US Embassy officials in Ankara referred Today’s Zaman to the
White House when asked about the planned visit, Turkish Foreign
Ministry officials in Ankara were not immediately able to provide
information. Obama had paid a landmark two-day visit to Turkey in
early April as part of a European tour and also as the last leg of his
maiden trip on the world stage as president. It was widely considered
a nod to Turkey’s regional reach, economic power, diplomatic contacts
and status as a secular democracy seeking European Union membership
that has accommodated political Islam.
It was also his first official trip to a predominantly Muslim country
as president, a visit closely watched in the Islamic world.
Ahead of his visit to the United States, Erdogan faced harsh
allegations by opposition parties suggesting that the aim of his
visit was to get US approval for his government’s recent initiative
on resolution of the Kurdish issue as well as on Armenia and Turkey’s
recent declaration of its desire for normalization of bilateral ties
through parliamentary approval of two protocols following internal
debate.
While in Turkey, Obama appealed for reconciliation between Ankara
and Yerevan. Obama, who pledged to recognize the Armenian diaspora’s
genocide claims in his election campaign, avoided using the g-word
in his traditional April 24 message.
In an address to the Turkish Parliament, Obama then praised the
government for steps such as lifting bans on teaching and broadcasting
in Kurdish, saying that the world noted with respect the important
signal sent through a new state-run Kurdish television station.
Erdogan has already called on opposition leaders to support a national
unity project, also known as the democratization initiative, with the
ultimate aim of reaching a comprehensive resolution to the decades-old
Kurdish question by granting more rights to the country’s Kurdish
citizens, while speaking to reporters in Ankara ahead of his departure
for the US.
Speaking to Turkish reporters, Erdogan touched upon the same issue,
particularly on remarks by the main opposition Republican People’s
Party (CHP) leader, who has indicated that Erdogan traveled to the US
to inform the US administration about the government’s democratization
initiative.
"We haven’t come here for the democratization initiative. [CHP leader
Deniz Baykal] is acting as if we have come here to give an account
of something; this is a shame," Erdogan was quoted as saying by
Anatolia. "This is first of all a disrespectful manner against the
Republic of Turkey. This harms Turkey. It’s so awful to make such an
epithet," he said, underlining the importance of both the UN General
Assembly and the upcoming meeting of the Group of 20 industrialized
and developing countries.
Erdogan will attend the G-20 meeting, which is scheduled to be held
on Sept. 24-25 in the US city of Pittsburgh. "The agenda of the G-20
summit is obviously not the democratization initiative. The agenda
of the meeting is set and that’s the global financial crisis," he said.
Bilateral talks When asked whether he would have any contact with
Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan while in the US, Erdogan replied
that Sarksyan has not been scheduled to attend the UN General Assembly
according to his information. There is no meeting exactly scheduled to
take place between any Armenian and Turkish officials either, he said.
Turkish newspapers have reported that Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
will meet with his Armenian counterpart, Edward Nalbandian, on the
sidelines of the gathering.
Erdogan also said he might hold a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu if any request is conveyed by the Israeli side.
As of Tuesday, Erdogan had separate talks with UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon and Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, while
also delivering a speech on the UN-led Alliance of Civilizations
initiative at the State University of New York-based Levin Institute.
During his visit to the US, Erdogan has been accompanied by Davutoglu,
Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, Chief EU negotiator Egemen BagıÅ~_
and Finance Minister Mehmet Å~^imÅ~_ek as well as by Turkey’s
permanent representative to the UN, Ambassador Ertugrul Apakan,
and Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ambassador Feridun Sinirlioglu.
24 September 2009, Thursday ALI H. ASLAN NEW YORK
Discrimination lays groundwork for terror, Erdogan warns in speech
Differences should be considered a richness for society rather than
a problem, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated in a speech
delivered Tuesday at the Levin Institute at the State University
of New York. Erdogan has been in New York to attend the UN General
Assembly. The title of the speech he delivered was "Alliance of
Civilizations," an apparent reference to the Alliance of Civilizations
initiative which was launched in 2005 by former UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan following a joint proposal by Spanish Prime Minister
JoseéLuis Rodriguez Zapatero and Erdogan.
Prejudices, humiliation and discrimination lay the groundwork for
radical movements, while terrorist groups exploit differences among
people for their own purposes, Erdogan said, citing separatist
activities in Turkey which have been carried out by the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and noting that around 30,000 people
have lost their lives since the PKK launched its armed campaign
against the state in 1984 as part of a quest to establish an ethnic
Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey. Emphasizing the need to build a
"common future," Erdogan continued: "I wonder whether the same amount
of money that has been allocated to defense around the world is also
being allocated for education, health, climate change, environment
and culture. No, no, no!" Ali H. Aslan, New York