Monday, 27 April 2009
* Obama's April 24 statement is an 'unacceptable interpretation of history,' says Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, warning that Turkey is not a country which can be 'flattered and then fooled'.
ANKARA - "We regard the statement concerning the 1915 events as an interpretation of history that does not reflect the truth and is thus unacceptable," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday.
"We are saddened that the issue is being persistently exploited and many politicians are trying to win votes out of the controversy over the 1915 events" he added.
Apparently referring to Obama's earlier remarks underlining Turkey's importance in efforts for peace in the region and around the world, Erdogan also said, "Turkey is not a country that can be flattered and then fooled."
Obama, as widely expected, refrained from calling the World War I-era killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide, referring to them as "one of the great atrocities of the 20th century" and using the Armenian phrase "Meds Yeghern," which is often translated as "Great Calamity," twice in his message.
Obama, who said during his election campaign that the killings amounted to genocide, stated in the message that his view on the issue has not changed and that his "interest remains the achievement of a full, frank and just acknowledgment of the facts."
President Obama did not mention Turkish and other Muslim killings by the Armenian militants. At least more than 520.000 Ottoman Muslims were massacred by the Armenian nationalist groups in order to establish an Armenian state.
The decision not to use the word 'genocide' is both a result of Obama's desire not to harm efforts by Turkey and Armenia to normalize relations after a 15-year hiatus and a recognition of Turkey's importance as a US partner in achieving several foreign policy goals in the region.
Armenian-American groups, which heavily campaigned for Obama's endorsement of the genocide claims, expressed deep disappointment, saying, "The president chose to allow our nation's stand against genocide to remain a hostage to Turkey's threats."
Turkey is a key partner for the US administration in achieving many key US foreign policy goals, ranging from Iran's nuclear program to the stabilization of Afghanistan. Many have expressed concern that any reference to the g-word in the April 24 message would cause a road accident in the Turkish-US cooperation to achieve the mutual foreign policy goals and could come as a setback to Turkish-Armenian efforts to normalize relations.
But although he avoided the word genocide, Obama's use of Meds Yeghern, said analysts, was almost equally harmful. The phrase is used by Armenians to refer to the World War I events and some comments in the Turkish media said the use of it was identical to call the killings genocide. Dr. Sedat Laciner, head of the Ankara-based Turkish think tank USAK, argued "Obama spoiled everyhing he tried to build in his Turkey tour".
Turkish PM Erdogan said history should not be a tool to attain domestic political goals and insisted that historical questions should be left to historians. "Turkish-Armenian relations will be normalized, historical matters will be enlightened and the road will be paved for peace if countries that have nothing to do with the issue stop getting involved," he told a meeting of his Justice and Development Party (AK Party).
Turkey and Armenia announced on Wednesday that they reached an agreement on a framework to normalize ties, strained over a number of disputes, including the genocide row. Obama said he strongly supported the efforts by Turkey and Armenia to normalize their relations.
Armenians say 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a systematic campaign in eastern Anatolia, while Turkey vehemently rejects the claims of genocide, saying the killings came as the Ottoman Empire was trying to quell civil strife and that Muslim Turks were also killed in the clashes. Most of the Armenians rioted against the Istanbul Government and supported occupying Russian forces against the Ottoman Armies. The Government decided to move the Armenian population from war theatre to Syria province (tehcir - resetlement decision).
Erdogan complained that he had not even received a reply from Armenia to his 2005 proposal to set up a joint committee of historians to study the events.
* PRESIDENT GUL: EVERYONE'S PAIN MUST BE SHARED
On Saturday, President Abdullah Gul, speaking in Bulgaria, said there were points in Obama's statements and said the Turks, who perished at the hand of rioting Armenians should also be remembered:
"Hundreds of thousands of Turks and Muslims also died in 1915. Everyone's pain must be shared," he said.
The Foreign Ministry echoed his remarks, saying the statement's perception of history was "unacceptable" and appealed for an impartial study of the conflict.
Obama visited Turkey in early April and urged Ankara to repair ties with Armenia. Turkish officials have said any new attempt in the US Congress to brand the killings genocide could damage US-Turkish ties.
Turkey and Armenia have been holding closed-door talks since September. The process is criticized by the nationalist opposition at home and criticism is growing as Azerbaijan, part of whose territory is under Armenian occupation over a dispute on Nagorno-Karabakh, is protesting reconciliation between its ally, Turkey, and Armenia. Almsot 20 percent of Azerbaijani territories have been under Armenian occupation. Armenia also does not recognise Turkey's national borders and calls eastern Anatolia as Western Armenia.
"Obama's statement shows that efforts to please outsiders by giving concessions are not yielding any result," main opposition leader Deniz Baykal said on Saturday. "And we have managed to alienate Azerbaijan, too," he added.
"Looking at the entire statement, one will see that it is unacceptable," Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli said of Obama's statement. "If the US sacrifices Turkey for the sake of Armenian votes, everyone, including most notably Armenia, will have to suffer the consequences."
