Tag: Philip Gordon

A senior US official said on Tuesday that the US continues to strongly support direct dialogue and the normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia.

Turkey and Armenia made a bold move two years ago to normalize relations and establish diplomatic ties after a century of animosity between the two nations, but the process stalled after both sides proposed a number of preconditions before displaying the political will to implement the vision detailed in the documents.

Philip Gordon, US assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, when asked if Turkish and American officials are going to discuss the Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process in their upcoming meetings as he spoke to foreign reporters in Washington on Thursday, said that as a general rule, when Turkish and American diplomats and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoğlu, meet, the question of Turkish-Armenian reconciliation comes up “because it’s very important to us.”

American officials frequently stress the importance of Turkey and Armenia reconciling amid increasing pressure by Armenian lobbying groups in the US on members of Congress and the administration to use sharp language when referring to mass killings of Armenians in 1915, events Armenians term “genocide.”

Turkey and Armenia signed two protocols in 2009 to normalize ties. The protocols called for the opening of their shared border within two months if the two countries’ parliaments ratify the protocols. After Azerbaijan, a key ally for Turkey, expressed its dissatisfaction with the process, Turkey pegged the ratification of the process to a real breakthrough in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Armenia thus suspended the process on April 22 of last year.

The administration official said there have been efforts over the past several years to improve that relationship, which the US made clear it strongly supports, adding that those efforts have recently stalled, a development he said the US made clear it regrets. “We believe it’s in the interest of both countries to continue the normalization process, re-establish relations and have friendly relations and open trade from which both countries would benefit,” Gordon said. Gordon stated that American officials bring the reconciliation process up very frequently with their counterparts on both the Turkish and Armenian sides.

Zaman

by Emil Sanamyan

Published: Monday October 18, 2010

Washington – Washington remains committed to normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey but is also waiting for more “propitious time” to revisit that agenda, a senior U.S. official indicated.

In response to a question from The Armenian Reporter if the Armenia-Turkey relations have lost their urgency for the United States, Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon indicated in so many words that they have.

“On Turkey-Armenia we remain committed to the process of normalization,” Mr. Gordon said in his October 18 talk at Johns Hopkins University. “We want to see both countries ratify and implement the protocols.”

He added, “that hasn’t happened and we regret that, but the protocols continue to exist, they were signed. May be we can find more propitious time to revisit this agenda.”

U.S. became actively involved in Armenia-Turkey talks as the new Administration came into office with strong pledges by Barack Obama to recognize the Armenian Genocide and as congressional leadership appeared poised to move a resolution recognizing the Genocide forward.

At the time, Mr. Gordon and other U.S. officials called for normalization of relations to be achieved within a “reasonable timeframe” without a linkage to the Karabakh conflict.

Since President Obama backtracked on his pledge and indicated opposition to the resolution, Turkey has also backed off its earlier promises to normalize relations with Armenia by establishing diplomatic relations and lifting its embargoes.

In his October 18 remarks Mr. Gordon also indicated that U.S. “commitment” to Armenia-Turkey reconciliation proceeded in parallel with U.S. efforts to achieve a “reconciliation” between Armenia and Azerbaijan through the Karabakh peace process.

Speaking earlier it the day at the American Turkish Council’s annual conference Mr. Gordon and Turkey’s Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Feridun Sinirlioglu did not touch on Armenia-Turkey relations as they discussed other pressing concerns, such as Turkey’s position on U.S.-led sanctions against Iran and recent tensions with Israel.

Joining that discussion were ex-Congressman Robert Wexler and regional experts Ian Lesser and Omer Taspinar.

While Mr. Wexler sought to downplay U.S.-Turkish differences and highlight Israel’s importance to Turkey, the two experts sounded less upbeat about U.S.-Turkey relations going forward.

In his comments Mr. Taspinar also referred to Turkey’s failure to deliver on its promises regarding Armenia as adding to State Department’s concerns about Turkey’s course.

(c) 2010 Armenian Reporter