Category: America

Azerbaijani opposition against opening of borders

Baku. Elnur Mammadli – APA. Musavat Party made a statement on the talks held on reopening of Turkey-Armenia borders, the party’s press service told APA. The statement expresses concern over Turkey’s establishing relations with Armenia and notes that unilateral reopening of borders is inadmissible.
“Turkey’s paradoxical step towards Armenia, which does not give up territorial claims and genocide claims, will not have positive influence on its national interests, regional development or solution to Karabakh conflict. The developments may damage the relations of Turkey with its ally, friend, brother Azerbaijan,” he said.

The party notes that some forces may take advantage of the problem in Turkey-Azerbaijan relations. Musavat calls on Turkish government not to give grounds to the forces interested in damaging friendship between the two countries.
“Musavat Party, which is concerned over the state of Turkey-Azerbaijan relations, calls on politicians and media to be more delicate. We believe that Turkey-Azerbaijan relations will stand the test and strengthen,” the statement says.

Azerbaijan National Independence Party in its statement expresses concern over the discussions on the reopening of the borders. The party considers that the reopening of borders will not establish peace and welfare in thee region, but create serious obstacles in the settlement of the conflicts.
“Reopening of the borders will pave the way for Armenia’s militarism policy and new territorial claims,” the party says.
The party considers that being strategic ally and friend Turkey should take into account Azerbaijan’s interests.
“Reopening of the borders will damage the Turkic world and Azerbaijan-Turkey relations,” the statement says.

Azerbaijan National Democratic Party also made a statement. The party says if the borders will be reopened, Armenian-Russian military-aggressive base will strengthen. The party notes that realization of this probability will mean great political victory of Armenia, damage the national interest of Azerbaijan and Turkey, impede peace, Turkic world project.
“The party blames Turkish authorities for the project of anti-Turkish forces like the reopening of Turkey-Armenia borders. AKP government is executing anti-Turkish policy of Armenians, Persians, Russians and West,” he said.

April 8, 2009
Obama, Aliev Discuss Turkish-Armenian Ties

By Emil Danielyan

U.S. President Barack Obama has defended an unconditional normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey in a phone call with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliev, who is strongly opposed to such prospect.

The two leaders spoke late Tuesday after Obama ended a two-day visit to Turkey during which he urged Ankara and Yerevan to complete talks aimed at establishing diplomatic relations between the two neighbors and reopening their land border.

“The President had a good conversation with President Aliev,” the White House said in a statement. “He reaffirmed U.S commitment to a strong relationship with Azerbaijan and to supporting progress toward a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”

“The President also underscored the importance of Turkish-Armenian reconciliation, which will lead to greater peace and security in the region,” added the statement.

Aliev’s office also said that Turkish-Armenian relations were high on the agenda of the “frank conversation.” “Barack Obama informed the Azerbaijani leader about steps taken by the United States concerning Turkey-Armenia relations,” it said in a statement. “President Ilham Aliev brought the Azerbaijani state’s position on the issue to the U.S. president’s attention.”

Azerbaijani leaders have expressed serious concern at reports that Armenia and Turkey are close to normalizing their historically strained relations after months of high-level negotiations. Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov warned last week that Ankara will act against the national interests of its closest Turkic ally if it reopens the Turkish-Armenian border before a resolution of the Karabakh conflict. The current Turkish government’s apparent readiness to stop linking improved ties with Armenia to Karabakh reportedly led Aliev to cancel his participation in a UN-sponsored international conference held in Istanbul on Monday and Tuesday.

Obama spoke with the Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers on the sidelines of the conference and, according to a senior U.S. official quoted by Western news agencies, urged them to “complete an agreement with dispatch.” Addressing the Turkish parliament earlier on Monday, the U.S. president made a case for an open border between the two estranged nations.

According to “Hurriyet Daily News,” Obama and Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian held a bilateral meeting before being joined by Foreign Ministers Ali Babacan of Turkey and Micheline Calmy-Rey of Switzerland. The Armenian Foreign Ministry could not be reached for comment on this report on Wednesday. It is also unclear whether Nalbandian and Babacan held talks in a tête-à-tête format in Istanbul.

Nalbandian insisted on Sunday that the Karabakh dispute has not been on the agenda of the Turkish-Armenian negotiations and said statements to the contrary made by Turkish leaders could undermine the ongoing dialogue. He appeared to react to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Friday remark that “as long as the Nagorno-Karabakh issue is not resolved, it is not possible for us to reach a healthy solution concerning Armenia.”

April 8, 2009
Yes to a NATO Turkey, no to a European Turkey

Mostafa Zein Al-Hayat – 07/04/09//

Enter NATO with us. Give us your military strength so that we can together defend our borders. We will contain Communism, coming from Russia. We will confront the nationalist currents that are dangerous to us and to Israel. It is no matter if religion is used in this battle. Spread your moderate Islam in the Middle East. But do not come near our European Union, for you are, despite your moderation, backward and different.

This is a summary of European-Turkish relations ever since Kemal Ataturk declared in 1923 his affiliation with the old continent, deluded into thinking that replacing Arabic letters with Latin ones and eliminating the tarboush and the hijab would forge a new identity and erase the long history of enmity between the two sides. It was a relationship that turned Turkey, with its strategic and historical weight, into a mere military arm of NATO.

The best expression of the racist view toward Ankara, despite the need for it, might have come in the speech by French President Nicholas Sarkozy, answering President Barack Obama’s call on the EU to admit Turkey as a member. During the Euro-American Summit in Prague, Sarkozy said, “I work hand in hand with President Obama, but with regard to Turkey’s joining the EU, the decision lies with member states.” He added: “I have always opposed this membership and will continue to do so. I believe that the overwhelming majority of EU states supports France’s position… Turkey is a very big country and an ally of NATO and of the US, and should remain a privileged partner. However, my position will not change.”

Privileged partnership is not the position of the French right alone, as the left shares this vision. In his book “Yes to Turkey,” the French Socialist Michel
Rocard (prime minister under Francois Mitterand and a deputy in the European Parliament) maintained that Ankara’s joining the EU was “a life insurance policy” for Europe. But at the same time, he said that this gift should come in 2023, on the centennial celebration of Turkey’s founding, after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire. Until then, the EU should work on gradually absorbing Turkey into its institutions, through a privileged partnership that will see it abandon its cultural criteria, to be in line with European standards. Rocard does not forget to recommend that it join, beginning now, common security policies, in order to participate in achieving geopolitical goals for Europe. These include standing up to Iran, and assisting in the control of sources of oil.

The European left and right want Ataturk’s military, but not its culture. The ruling Justice and Development Party, with its moderate Islam, will remain outside the gates, to fend off attacks and spread its message in its own surroundings. It has now begun to play this role, by trying to recover the Ottoman relations, albeit modified, with the Middle East and Central Asia.

April 8, 2009
Representatives of Azerbaijani and Turkish communities of California meet with member of US Congress

Representatives of Azerbaijani and Turkish communities of California meet with high-ranking member of US Congress Committee of foreign affairs.

According to the US-Azerbaijani Committee, on April 6 representatives of Azerbaijani and Turkish community of California met with representatives of the Republican party from Florida, that is a high-ranking member of the committee of foreign affairs of the US congress, as well as member of Turkish cocus in the Congress Ileana Ros-Letinen, according to the press release, received from these organizations Tuesday.

The message states that during the meeting Azerbaijani and Turkish activists told Ros-Letinen about radicalism of Armenian groupings, intimidating and putting pressure on representatives of Azerbaijan and Turkey.

In particular, she was informed about the recent attempt of the representatives of the Armenian youth federation (youth wing of Dashnaktsutun party in California) to break the speech of Azerbaijani general consul Elin Suleymanov at the Californian university by racist calls for deportation of Azerbaijanis and Turks to Middle Asia and belonging of Armenians to the Arian race.

Representatives of the Turkish community also spoke of defamation and discrimination aimed against Turks at Californian schools and universities where events of the early 20th century in Easter Anatolia are interpreted as “genicode” under pressure of the Armenian lobby.

The representatives of the two communities also voiced concern about the open anti-Turkish and anti-Azerbaijani propaganda in the legislative body of California. In particular, Ros-Letinen familiarized with the recent attempt of the member of Californian assembly Paul Krikoryan to avert recognition of the Khojaly tragedy by the Californian law-makers, as well as its putting for discussion of absurd legislative act AB961 that urges to impose sanctions on local companies conducting business with Turkey and all the countries “condemned for genocide”.

In turn, Mrs Ros-Letinen noted that racist attacks, intimidation and pressure on ethnic grounds are inadmissible for the US public and that she will take the presented facts into account.

She also noted that she comes from a family of Jewish migrants from Turkey and therefore she is proud of her Turkish origin. Ros-Letinen especially stressed the positive role of the initiative of “Laying bridges from the Caspian Sea to Mediterranean”, organized by the Azerbaijani-American Council, American-Jewish Committee and Turkish-American Association and was also informed about the forthcoming conference on “Jews in Turkish world”, planned to be held in New York in autumn of 2009.

/Day.Az/
http://www.today.az/news/politics/51377.html

April 7, 2009
Obama Urges Turkey, Armenia To Normalize Ties Soon

Reuters, RFE/RL

U.S. President Barack Obama urged the foreign ministers of Turkey and Armenia during a meeting late Monday to complete talks aimed at restoring ties between the two neighbors.

Ankara and Yerevan are engaged in high-level negotiations to end nearly a century of hostility, including the reopening of the border — a move which could help shore up stability in the volatile Caucasus.

“On the margins of tonight’s Alliance of Civilizations dinner, the president met the foreign ministers of Turkey, Armenia and Switzerland to commend their efforts toward Turkish-Armenian normalization and to urge them to complete an agreement with dispatch,” a senior U.S. official told reporters in Istanbul.

The official was referring to a U.N.-backed conference in Istanbul organized to discuss ways of building bridges between the Muslim world and the West, which Obama attended on Monday as part of his visit to Turkey.

“President Obama voiced support for efforts by the leaders of Armenia and Turkey to normalize bilateral relations, expressing satisfaction with progress made in the negotiations of late,” Tigran Balayan, a spokesman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry, said, commenting on the meeting. He said Obama “encouraged” the two sides to sign a relevant agreement “in the near future.”

“In the words of President Obama, the steps taken by the leaders of Armenia and Turkey are historic and courageous and the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border can earn the two peoples a peaceful and prosperous future,” Balayan told RFE/RL from Istanbul.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Turkish President Abdullah Gul in Ankara earlier on Monday, Obama said the Turkish-Armenian negotiations “could bear fruit very quickly, very soon.” He indicated that he will therefore be very careful in his public pronouncements on the 1915-1918 mass killings and deportations of Armenians in Ottoman Empire. He at the same time stood by his earlier statements describing the deaths of more than one million Armenians as genocide.

April 7, 2009
Obama Meets Turkish-Armenian Religious Leader

By Astghik Bedevian

U.S. President Barack Obama met religious leaders, among them a high-ranking Armenian cleric, in Istanbul as he wrapped up a two-day visit to Turkey on Tuesday.

Obama held a group meeting with Armenian Archbishop Aram Ateshian, Chief Rabbi of Istanbul Isak Haleva, Grand Mufti of Istanbul Mustafa Cagrici and Syrian Orthodox Archbishop Yusuf Cetin before holding a private meeting with Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I.

Ateshian is one of the spiritual leaders of Turkey’s small Armenian community largely concentrated in Istanbul. According to Rober Hadejian, editor of the local Armenian-language “Marmara” daily, Ateshian spoke at length not only about challenges facing the community but also the World War One-era massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

“The archbishop had enough time to explain and talk about the events of 1915 and the Armenian community’s expectations regarding those events as well as the community’s role in the history of this country,” Hadejian told RFE/RL. “My understanding is that Monsignor Aram spoke more than other participants of the meeting,” he said.

April 7, 2009