Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

Blinken: Turkey should start dialogue with Armenia
by Ankara - Turkish Daily News
Posted: Sunday, December 03, 2000 01:52 am CST

'Nobody knows what might happen if the US Congress once again faced a vote on recognizing the alleged genocide'

Calling on Turkey and the United States to find a way to cope with the Armenian lobby's attempts to get an alleged Armenian genocide recognized in several Western countries, a senior U.S. official said that Turkey had the responsibility to take the first step to start a dialogue with Armenia.

"As a small, landlocked country suffering from economic problems, Armenia sees Turkey as offering a fist, not a hand," said U.S. National Security Council European Director Tony Blinken, during his address to the 21st convention of the Assembly of Turkish-American Associations in Washington on Thursday.

Noting that the lack of a comprehensive policy on how to deal with the Armenian lobby's efforts might be harmful for Turco-American relations, Blinken said nobody could know what might happen if the U.S. Congress once again faced a vote on recognizing the alleged genocide.

This fall, efforts to get the alleged genocide recognized failed at the last minute in the U.S. House of Representatives. Turkey warned the United States that its strategic interests in the region vis-a-vis Turkey might be harmed if the resolution calling for the recognition of the alleged genocide were approved.

On the other hand, Tansu Okandan, a senior Turkish Foreign Ministry official, said that it was hard for Turkey to establish good ties with Armenia, given that Armenia was behind the attempts to get the alleged genocide recognized in the French and Italian Parliaments and the U.S. Congress.

Okandan also emphasized that Armenia was continuing its territorial claims on Turkey, adding that Armenian authorities have identified six northeastern provinces of Turkey as "western Armenia." Okandan called on U.S. authorities to urge Armenia to give up its current policy towards Turkey in order for Armenian ties with Turkey to develop.

Turco-American relations

Addressing the same meeting, Republican Congressman Doug Bereuter said that the Turco-American relations would develop even further under a possible George W. Bush administration, emphasizing that Bush's foreign policy team was made up of people known to have favorable attitudes toward Turkey. Three weeks after the U.S. presidential election, neither Vice President Al Gore nor Texas Governor Bush has yet been certified the winner.

Touching upon the issue of the European Union's efforts to build its own defense force, Bereuter said that Turkey should not be excluded from the decision-making mechanism of the proposed force. "The EU cannot exclude NATO members from the decision-making process while using NATO assets," he said. "The EU is not autonomous and probably never will be. It would continue to need NATO facilities. Therefore, it cannot exclude NATO members, especially a strategic country like Turkey."

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