FM Ahmet Davutoğlu welcomed the US Congress' decision against debating a resolution to declare the killing of Armenians in the final days of the Ottoman Empire a genocide, saying it was now time to resolve disputes with Armenia.
“We are pleased that there was no development potentially dealing a blow to Turkish-US and Turkish-Armenian ties in the US Congress yesterday,” Davutoğlu told reporters on the sidelines of a regional summit in İstanbul. Saying that “common sense has prevailed once again,” Davutoğlu said Turkey was ready to face history and to work for reconciliation with Armenians.
He added that efforts to pass resolutions on history at third-party countries’ parliaments and to use such resolutions to “blackmail” Turkey were unacceptable. “Such efforts lead to a completely unnecessary waste of time and energy,” said Davutoğlu, referring to intense Turkish efforts since Friday, when the resolution issue first came up, to convince the US lawmakers not to take up the measure. “It is now time for dialogue and compromise. We must intensify efforts to that effect in order to bring peace to our region,” he said.
Davutoğlu noted that Turkey not only wanted the normalization of ties with estranged neighbor Armenia but also the establishment of ties between Armenia and Azerbaijan, who fought a war over Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s. Turkey severed its ties and closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in show of solidarity with regional ally Azerbaijan.
In 2009, Turkey and Armenia signed protocols to normalize their relations. The protocols call for a joint commission, also including international experts, to examine the “historical dimension” of the two countries’ relations. Ankara has repeatedly said outside countries should stay out of the dispute on genocide claims.
Supporters of the resolution on genocide claims made a push for approval in the final days of the US Congress, despite opposition from the Obama administration. The measure was opposed strongly by Turkey, and the administration feared it would have damaged relations with the NATO ally.
Instead, the House of Representatives ended its two-year term Wednesday without taking up the matter. It is unlikely to be passed after Republicans take control of the chamber in January because the new Speaker of the House, John Boehner, opposes it.
Proponents of the resolution had been optimistic about passing it because outgoing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was a longtime supporter who had advocated approval. One Armenian-American group on Wednesday blamed Pelosi for not scheduling a vote. “Her decision to not move this legislation forward during her four years as speaker represents a failure of the congressional leadership on human rights,” said Ken Hachikian, chairman of the Armenian National Committee of America.
Turkey has said frequently that the resolution would drive a wedge in its relations with the United States. In March, after the House Foreign Affairs Committee endorsed the proposed resolution, Turkey, which sees the measure as a historical affront, withdrew its ambassador from Washington. This week, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sent US President Barack Obama a letter asking that he prevent a vote on the measure. On Wednesday, Turkey’s Ambassador to Washington, Namık Tan, thanked Obama in a statement for arguing against the measure. “As decades-long friends and allies, Turkey and the US will continue to work for global peace, prosperity and stability,” Tan said.
The issue is awkward for Obama, who pledged as a presidential candidate to recognize the Armenian deaths as genocide. Armenians claim up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a systematic genocide campaign during the World War I years. Turkey, on the other hand, denies that the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has been inflated and those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.
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