LEVERAGING TURKEY-ARMENIA PROTOCOLS, ERDOGAN PRESSES ADVANTAGE DURING DC VISIT
Asbarez
Dec 8th, 2009
Escalates Genocide Denial, Pushes Preconditions, Reinforces Pressure
on Nagorno Karabagh
Asserts: "My ancestors have never committed genocide!"
WASHINGTON-Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, having secured
at least temporarily, the silence of yet another Administration on the
Armenian Genocide, has used his U.S. visit to further press Turkey’s
advantage-dramatically escalating his genocide denial rhetoric,
reinforcing Turkey’s "Protocols" preconditions for lifting its blockade
of Armenia, and attempting to use Ankara’s new found leverage in the
Nagorno Karabakh peace process to deliver a pro-Azerbaijani settlement
of this conflict, reported the Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA).
"Today, more than seven months into the silence of yet another U.S.
Administration on the Armenian Genocide, it’s painfully clear that
Erdogan has not, as President Obama had hoped, moved toward a full,
frank and just acknowledgement of the facts – but rather sprinted in
exactly the opposite direction, dramatically ramping up his denial
rhetoric and pressing more aggressively against U.S. recognition of
this crime," said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. "As
we’ve said from day one, for Erdogan and his government, the Protocols
are not about peace. They represent simply another tactic by Turkey
to extend U.S. complicity in Turkey’s denials from one April 24th to
the next," added Hamparian.
In addition to escalating his Armenian Genocide denial demands, Erdogan
also made clear that his government would not respect either of the
two U.S. priorities for Turkey-Armenia normalization: no preconditions
and a reasonable timeframe.
He continued to press for both the two Turkish preconditions
hardwired into the protocols, namely a historical "commission" and the
confirmation of borders, as well as a third unwritten precondition that
the Nagorno-Karabakh issue be settled to Azerbaijan’s satisfaction. At
the same time, he firmly established that Turkey does not feel any
obligation to move forward in a timely manner.
Erdogan’s comments came during a press conference held at the Willard
Hotel, followed by a presentation at the Johns Hopkins University
School of Advanced and International Studies (SAIS) and an evening
speech at SETA-DC, touted as the only Turkish think tank in Washington,
DC. He will continue presentations on Tuesday at the German Marshall
Fund and later do a PBS television interview with Charlie Rose.
During his think tank appearances, Prime Minister Erdogan pontificated
– often in a lecturing and self-righteous tone – on a broad range of
topics, from foreign policy to climate change and world poverty. The
formats of these presentations, which featured highly controlled
third-party participation, lent themselves to this type of one-way
communication. The only exceptions were the few questions, submitted
in writing, dealing with the Armenian Genocide and freedom of speech
in Turkey. Both of these topics sparked angry and unscripted responses
from Erdogan.
Asked during his Johns Hopkins presentation by ANCA Communications
Director Elizabeth Chouldjian about his thoughts on repeated statements
by President Obama that his views had not changed on the "events on
1915," Erdogan descended into a strident diatribe of denial of the
Armenian Genocide, dismissing decades of scholarship documenting the
systematic destruction of Turkey’s Armenian population from 1915-1923.
"My ancestors have never committed genocide," asserted Erdogan. "This
is, in my opinion, not possible… Those people who speak of genocide,
I don’t know what documentation they base it on."
Asked about recent Congressional rebuke of media repression in Turkey,
Prime Minister Erdogan denied that there are restrictions on the
press in Turkey, stating, "The press in Turkey is perhaps freer than
the press in the U.S. – much more so, in my opinion."
At SETA-DC, in response to a question on the ratification timeline
of the Turkey-Armenia protocols, Prime Minister Erdogan stated
that: "There are certain connections, which need to be taken into
consideration, the first one of which being the relations between
Azerbaijan and Armenia."
"There is at the moment this concern in the Parliament and that’s why
we called the MINSK group – the United States, Russian Federation and
France especially – to move forward in this area," Erdogan said. "If
they can work on the Nagorno-Karabakh problem between Azerbaijan and
Armenia, which has been ongoing for the last 20 years and if progress
can be made towards a solution to the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh,
then not only will problems between Azerbaijan and Armenia be resolved
but also there will be a positive contribution to the process between
Turkey and Armenia, whereby the parliaments will reflect upon their
work, the good will and progress in the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh,
and this what we would like to see happen."