BAKU: Closure of US military base in Turkey and recall possible

APA, Azerbaijan
March 5 2010

Closure of US military base in Turkey and recall of Turkish soldiers
from Afghanistan can be brought to agenda

[ 05 Mar 2010 15:37 ]

Baku ` APA. `Soon after the decision of the House Committee on Foreign
Affairs our government gave a proper assessment to it. It has been
confirmed once more how parliaments’ decisions on historical events
may result. Such a view in the U.S. Congress is very disappointing. It
is seen how those who voted for the resolution are aware of these
events,’ Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said at the press
conference in Ankara, APA reports quoting Haberturk. Touching on the
happenings of 1915 the minister mentioned that there was a chaos at
that time.
`1915 means migration for Armenians. For us it means Canakkale. Two
million of our compatriots migrated from the Balkans, there was
migration from the Caucasus. There was a great chaos. We have always
shared this grief and approached it from human aspect, not in terms of
politics. We regard Armenians, with whom we lived together for ten
centuries, as friends,’ he said.

To the question `Can the discussion of the Incirlik base, recall of
the Turkish soldiers from Afghanistan be brought to the agenda?’ the
minister said:
`We will discuss this issue after our ambassador arrives. We will also
hold discussions in the Cabinet of Ministers. We may also meet with
President, leaders of the opposition parties. This is the matter of
national pride for us.’

Ahmet Davutoglu underlined that the decision would influence both
Turkey-US and Turkey-Armenia relations.
`We do not want crisis in our relations with America every spring,’ he said.