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ANKARA: Turkey Should Be A Step Ahead In Armenian Relations, Wexler

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  • ANKARA: Turkey Should Be A Step Ahead In Armenian Relations, Wexler

    TURKEY SHOULD BE A STEP AHEAD IN ARMENIAN RELATIONS, WEXLER SAYS

    Today's Zaman
    Feb 19 2010
    Turkey

    Robert Wexler, a former US congressman from Florida and co-chairman
    of the Congressional Caucus on US-Turkish Relations who recently
    resigned from Congress to accept an offer to head the S. Daniel Abraham
    Center for Middle East Peace has proposed that Turkey adopt a policy
    concerning its relations with Armenia that is similar to its policy of
    "being one step ahead" on the Cyprus issue.

    The former US congressman, who gave a conference at the Foundation for
    Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) in Washington titled
    "Model Partnership: Creative Approaches to US-Turkey Relations"
    on Wednesday, praised the steps taken by the Turkish and Armenian
    governments to solve their problems and the political risks they had
    taken on the road to normalization of bilateral relations. Responding
    to a question about his message for Turkey regarding the ratification
    of protocols signed by Turkey and Armenia for the normalization of
    ties between the two estranged neighbors, Wexler stated that he has
    always refrained from imposing a strategy on Turkey or on any other
    party. Recalling that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan previously
    said concerning the Cyprus issue that Turkey would always be one
    step ahead for peace, he suggested that Turkey do the same for the
    Armenian issue. He highlighted that this is for the benefit of both
    Turkey and its friends in the US.

    Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan earlier this week submitted
    to parliament for ratification two protocols on normalizing ties
    with Turkey after decades of hostility. He stated, however, that
    he expected Turkey to ratify and start implementing the protocols
    before Armenia. The Turkish government has already sent the protocols
    to Parliament for ratification, a procedural requirement. However,
    the protocols hit a roadblock as a result of a sub-annex the Armenian
    constitutional court attached to the protocols. In a ruling on whether
    the proposed protocols were constitutional, Armenia's constitutional
    court approved the protocols signed in October. Yet in its ruling
    dated Jan. 12 the court referred to the country's Declaration of
    Independence, which calls for the recognition of the 1915 killings of
    Armenians under Ottoman rule as genocide. Turkey accepts that many
    Armenians died under the Ottoman Turks but denies that up to 1.5
    million perished or that it amounts to genocide, saying many Muslims
    died as well. While commenting on Turkish-Armenian relations and
    protocols signed between the countries as well as resolutions pending
    in the US Congress endorsing the genocide claims, Wexler said leaders
    of all parties, including the US, should make sure that tensions do
    not escalate.

    Wexler also shared his views regarding Turkey's current foreign
    policy and said it cannot be argued that Turkey is heading towards the
    East when steps taken by the country as part of the EU harmonization
    process are taken into consideration. Noting that Turkey is far more
    democratic and liberal a country now than in previous years, he said
    Turkey is the country where East and West meet rather than a country
    where East and West clash.
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