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ANKARA: Critical Week

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  • ANKARA: Critical Week

    CRITICAL WEEK
    By Omer Taspinar

    Turkish Press
    March 1 2010

    SABAH- Washington-Ankara relations are going to have a difficult week.

    US House of Representatives is going to decide upon whether or
    not a draft bill proposing the recognition of (so-called) Armenian
    genocide should be brought to the agenda of the general assembly. The
    expectations are for that the proposed bill will be sent to the general
    assembly. Let's remember: This draft bill is a kind of suggestion
    to the White House. The draft asks Obama to recognize Armenian
    genocide officially and to use this term explicitly on April 24. In
    the last decade, many similar draft bills were asked to be sent to
    the Congress. But, the White House and US Secretary of State were
    able to prevent such a decision to be issued.

    However, the process may be painful and dramatic as it was in 2007. At
    that time, Ankara recalled its Ambassador to Washington to hold some
    'consultation.' The Congress came under fire by the US press at the
    time, with many accusing it of harming US interests.

    The Obama government does not want to have such crisis with Turkey.

    The government has already had many problems. For this reason,
    the draft bill at the Congress is a kind of headache for both the
    White House and the State Department. They're well aware of the fact
    that such a move won't serve any purpose but obstruct the ongoing
    normalization process between Turkey and Armenia. Last week, during
    a hearing at the Congress, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
    underlined the importance of continuing rapprochement process between
    Turkey and Armenia, saying that any step that derail this process
    should be avoided. Clinton said: "We're working to help Turkey and
    Armenia to succeed in this process and will continue to support this
    process. We never want to spoil this process by taking such a step."

    As a result, Obama government and the State Department know that
    the draft bill pending at the Congress and its timing will fan the
    nationalist weather in Turkey. The government will do its best to
    prevent the Congress from accepting that bill. However, we should not
    forget that the most important factor strengthening Armenian group's
    hand is that Turkey has frozen the protocols with Armenia. Armenians
    in the US refrain form the normalization between Ankara and Yerevan.

    That means, the real success is not to deactivate the draft bill
    in the US Congress but to approve the rapprochement protocols in
    Parliament as soon as possible.
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