TURKEY IMPORTANT ALLY OF U.S.: KYIV POST
News.am
15:26 / 10/09/2009
Being an influential state in the Middle East, Caucasus and Central
Asia, Turkey is an important ally of U.S., Ukraine’s leading
English-language newspaper Kyiv Post reports. NEWS.am posts some
extracts of the article, titled "Turkey-Armenia deal could alleviate
U.S. headache."
"For decades, however, relations have been roiled by
Armenian-Americans, who have doggedly pursued U.S. recognition of
the World War I-era killings of Armenians as Genocide. That may
soon change.
A historic deal to resume diplomatic ties and open the border between
Turkey and Armenia, expected to be signed Saturday, could alleviate
that longtime headache for U.S. diplomats.
Recognizing that objections from Armenians living thousands of miles
away have a political impact, Armenian and U.S. officials have been
seeking support for the deal by the Armenia diaspora, which has often
taken a harder, more nationalist line on relations with Turkey than
the Armenian government. Now some major Armenian-American groups
have indeed praised the deal amid a rancorous debate within the
community. The backing of some influential groups is a welcome
development for the Obama administration, which has pushed for
Turkish-Armenian reconciliation.
Bulent Aliriza, director of the Turkey project at CSIS, a Washington
think tank, said the United States has been pivotal in the Swiss-led
mediation between the two countries. ‘The U.S. administration and
the Turkish government both wish to defuse the tensions associated
with annual efforts to get the U.S. to recognize the events of 1915
as genocide and view normalization as the best way of doing so,’
he said," the article reads.
The daily quotes the Executive director of the Armenian Assembly
of America Bryan Ardouny: "For the first time Turkey has publicly
committed to normalize relations without preconditions, which the
United States has actively supported."