In a three-hour hearing entitled “Turkey’s New Foreign Policy Direction: Implications for U.S.-Turkish Relations” in US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee held earlier today, Republican and Democratic representatives criticized Turkey on denial of Armenian allegations regarding 1915 incidents in Ottoman Empire, Turkish military existence in Cyprus and so called repression of Christian minorities in Turkey.
The opening remarks was made by the Chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee Howard Berman (D-CA) who outlined his concerns over Turkey’s policy regarding Iran, Israel and Palestine. One of the bold supporters of so called Armenian genocide resolutions in the Congress, Berman said, “It is critical that Turkey acknowledge the “genocide” committed by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenian people during World War I. That’s why this Committee has repeatedly passed measures recognizing the “Genocide” and calling on the President to do likewise. I believe that Turks, once they come to terms with their past, will discover that they have relieved themselves and their children of an immense moral burden.”
Claiming that there are question marks regarding Turkey’s loyalty to its strategical partnership with United States, Berman said, “I am also among those who are concerned of these.”
Commenting on the criticisms that US Congressmen directed against Turkey, Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Chairman Aram Hamparyan thanked Chairman Berman and Representatives Costa, Smith, Royce, Sires, Bilirakis, Berkley, and Mack for “shedding much needed sunshine on the many failings of our government’s weak response to a leadership in Ankara that is increasingly and openly acting against both U.S. interests and American values.”
Public Radio of Armenia reported that House Foreign Affairs Committee members questioned the four panelists appearing at the hearing: Dr. Soner Cagaptay, Senior Fellow of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy; former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Azerbaijan Ross Wilson; Dr. Ian Lesser, Senior Transatlantic Fellow at The German Marshall Fund of the United States; and, Dr. Michael Rubin, Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a Senior Lecturer at the Naval Postgraduate School.
Democrat Congressman Bill Delahant said the development of cooperation with Turkey will be useful for the national interests of the United States. Delahant reminded of the positive initiatives of the Turkish government aimed at democratization of the society and conduction of reforms, accentuating the process of Turkey's full membership in EU.
US former ambassador in Ankara Ross Wilson said there have always been ups and downs in the US-Turkish relations. He said the United States has no other choice except for cooperating with Turkey for which the two countries need to discuss existing differences and problems.
Mr. Wilson touched upon the Turkish-Armenian normalization and Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, saying that if there is no adjustment between Armenia and Azerbaijan it’s not easy to finalize peaceful and creative projects and plans in the region.
“Unfortunately, Armenian and Turkish leaders concluded that they could not go forward now to ratify the protocols that called for normalizing relations and opening the border. I think doing so can still build the confidence needed for resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan and for Turks and Armenians to deal with their past, present and future together in a forthright manner”, he added.
The former Ambassador pointed out that, the South Caucasus is a volatile and fragile part of the world. According to him, the 2008 Georgian war gave impetus to reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia.
“When President Sarksian and President Gul stood together in Yerevan a month after the Russian invasion of Georgia, the two leaders seemed symbolically to say, “we have a vision of the Caucasus, it’s not what just happened in Georgia, and we’re determined to take on the most difficult issues between us to try to achieve it”. But unfortunately, two sides concluded that they could not go forward now”, - he mentioned.
Speaking about the interests of brevity between US and Turkey, Mr. Wilson mentioned of Cyprus, Greece, the Balkans and the Black Sea, and such other active points on agenda of US-Turkish relations as well as energy, terrorism, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“Suffice it to say that, in my view, on each of these we want fundamentally the same things, there are of course differences of view, and the United States and Turkey cooperate pretty well”, - he added.
Historyoftruth.com, TRT, APA
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