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ANKARA: US Rejects Linking Armenia Talks With 'Genocide' Resolution

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  • ANKARA: US Rejects Linking Armenia Talks With 'Genocide' Resolution

    US REJECTS LINKING ARMENIA TALKS WITH 'GENOCIDE' RESOLUTION

    Today's Zaman
    03 February 2010, Wednesday

    A senior US State Department official has called on both Armenia and
    Turkey to move forward in the process of normalizing their ties,
    while refusing to make a link between the normalization issue and
    possible US recognition of Armenian genocide allegations.

    Remarks by Philip Gordon, assistant secretary of state for European
    and Eurasian affairs, came at a briefing at the State Department's
    Foreign Press Center on Monday when he was asked whether a failure
    in the normalization process between Ankara and Yerevan might lead
    to a revival of the Armenian genocide resolution, in an apparent
    reference to two resolutions pending in the US Congress endorsing
    the genocide claims.

    Recalling the US call for ratification of two accords signed by
    Turkey and Armenia in October and designed to overcome a century
    of hostility stemming from the World War I mass killings of both
    Turks and Armenians, Gordon labeled such progress "an opportunity to
    overcome really historic differences between the two countries in a
    way that would benefit both."

    "We think that is true regardless of other issues -- that it needs
    to move forward independently of other issues simply because it is
    in the interests of the two countries. So we are in regular touch
    with both governments and encourage them to move forward with that
    process. And that's where it stands. We will continue to work with
    both of them. As for any links, I think President [Barack] Obama has
    addressed the other issue you mentioned about congressional legislation
    and our view on that is no different, that Turkey-Armenia normalization
    is a good thing in and of itself, and it should move forward because
    of that," Gordon added.

    During a visit to Turkey in early April 2009, Obama appealed for
    reconciliation between Ankara and Yerevan. Obama, who pledged to
    recognize the Armenian diaspora's genocide claims in his election
    campaign, avoided using the g-word in his traditional April 24 message.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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