Thursday, 1 October 2009October has arrived and with it, an anxious anticipation as to whether relations between Turkey and Armenia will harmonize. In separate meetings this week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with the foreign minister of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoglu and his Armenian counterpart, Edward Nalbandian. Her message was the same to both, proceed with normalization talks and do not let political opposition halt progress.
Once again, Clinton reiterated U.S. sentiments on the situation by exclaiming that normalization, "should take place without preconditions and within a reasonable timeframe."
The talks Clinton held between Turkey and Armenia’s respective foreign ministers followed Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s announcement on Sunday that the deal to establish diplomatic ties between the two states would be signed on October 10th; however, the agreement must be approved by both Turkey and Armenia’s parliaments first.
Earlier this week, Richard Lugar, a U.S. Senator of Indiana and member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee expressed his hope that relations between Turkey and Armenia would continue to improve. Philip Gordon, a top U.S. diplomat for Europe also voiced those same sentiments and acknowledged the United States eagerness for the deal.
The Associated Press quoted him as saying, "This is a difficult process that faces some political opposition in both places, and it's hard for both governments,” he added, "It shouldn't wait for other things to get done, or be linked to other things. It should go ahead."
“Football diplomacy” has been praised by Gordon; he said the United States supported it and that it would like to see Armenian President Serge Sarkisian visit Turkey for the Oct. 14 World Cup qualifier between the two countries. Sarkisian has said that he would only attend the match if there is progress towards opening the border but Gordon advised that he should attend the game no matter how much relations have advanced up to that point, "It would be a good sign and further evidence of the two countries coming together if he went to the football match."
Stacy Maruskin (JTW)
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Thursday, 1 October 2009
Journal of Turkish Weekly
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