Cabinet to discuss roadmap after US ‘genocide’ vote

Tuesday, 09 March 2010 10:11

Today’s regular weekly Cabinet meeting presided by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will focus on drawing up a roadmap concerning the current course of affairs in bilateral relations between Ankara and Washington after a US congressional committee last week branded the killings of Anatolian Armenians during World War I as genocide.
Turkey has expressed its outrage over the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs’ approval of the non-binding resolution on Thursday, in a vote broadcast live on Turkish television, and recalled its envoy to the United States for consultations.
“The decision of the Foreign Affairs Committee will not hurt Turkey, but it will greatly harm bilateral relations, interests and vision. Turkey will not be the one who loses,” Erdoğan said on Saturday, speaking to a group of Turkish businessmen.

The Obama administration made a last-minute appeal against the resolution and has vowed to stop the vote from going further in Congress.

Turkey has said the resolution could jeopardize a fragile drive by Turkey and Armenia to end a century of hostilities and lead to further instability in the Southern Caucasus, a region crisscrossed by oil and gas pipelines to Europe.

Turkey’s ambassador to the US, Namık Tan, told journalists upon his return on Saturday that it was unclear when he would head back to Washington following his talks with the president, prime minister and foreign minister.

“I will return when the time is right ... We will have to wait and see,” Tan said.

The road map is expected to contain flexibility in regards to “retaliatory” steps, as Ankara will also have to focus on preventing US President Barack Obama from calling the killings of Anatolian Armenians “genocide” in an annual White House statement on April 24, the day marking Armenian remembrance.

Diplomatic sources have said self-isolating measures such as shutting down İncirlik Air Base, used by the US military, or cutting defense imports from the US are unlikely at this stage. But damage to the partnership with Turkey is likely to hurt US strategic interests in the Middle East and Afghanistan, where Turkey is a key contributor to the NATO-led peacekeeping force. Its growing clout in the Middle East has given Turkey a key role in the region, making it a valuable ally for the US that is capable of exerting influence in areas and groups where the US presence and influence are limited.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu gave a cautious answer when asked whether retaliatory steps such as withdrawing troops from Afghanistan or a change of regulation regarding the US use of İncirlik Air Base in Adana could be on the agenda.

Such issues will be discussed with Tan upon his arrival, Davutoğlu said, adding that the issue would be discussed later at the Cabinet meeting as well as with President Abdullah Gül and opposition parties.

Calling rumors circulating among the public and in the media regarding specific steps to be taken against the US “early discussions,” he added that the necessary assessments will be made in the coming days.

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