Kikapu wrote:denizaksulu wrote:Expanded article.
Turkey Summons U.S. Ambassador In Ankara To Express Discomfort Over Obama's Speech
Published: 4/27/2009
ANKARA - Turkey summoned the U.S. Ambassador in Ankara, James Jeffrey, and expressed discomfort over U.S. President Barack Obama's statement on the occasion of the "Armenian Remembrance Day" on April 24.
Jeffrey was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday and Turkey's reaction, and views were communicated to him, said sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Obama's statement on April 24, "Armenian Remembrance Day" stirred wide reaction and drew severe critism from Turkey's top officials and politicians on the grounds that it was biased.
Turkey's President Abdullah Gul was the first to criticize Obama. He told reporters the following day that not only Armenians but hundreds of thousands of Turks and Muslims had lost their lives during the events of 1915, adding that pain and suffering of all people who lost their lives in 1915 should be remembered.
Gul said statesmen and politicians could not pass judgement on events in the history, adding that it was time to look to the future and give a chance to diplomatic efforts for solution of issues between Turkey and Armenia, and Armenia and Azarbaijan.
Gul was followed by Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan who argued that Obama's statement was related with a pledge he made to Armenian lobbies during his election campaign.
"Such a sensitive issue requiring expertise, which should in fact be left to historians, is continuously being used as a tool for politics and exploited by lobbies every year, and this prevents normalization of relations between people and countries," Erdogan was quoted as saying.
Parliament Speaker Koksal Toptan also criticised Obama's statement and said such statement on events of 1915, seriously harmed the process for normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia.
Turkish Foreign Ministry regarded Obama's statement unacceptable in a press release issued Sunday, noting that history could be construed and evaluated only based on undisputed evidence and documents.
So much for VP's jubilation that there is a new USA-Turkey relationship.!
There is no "new" USA-Turkey relationship as I stated to Paphitis before, and the speech Obama gave in Turkey few weeks ago confirmed it, where Obama basically told Turkey what it needs to do in order to remain part of Europe....................or else.!
The sombre faces from most of the MP's in the parliament was very telling. By far, Bush administration was far closer to Turkey, despite being let down by Turkey during the Iraq invasion then the Obama administration will ever be. Bush supported the AP no matter how Racist and undemocratic that plan was as well as Bush begged congress not to pass the Armenian bill to call it a "Genocide" last year or the year before, because of the on going war in Iraq. Congress gave in to Bush at that time which had a bi- partisan support for the bill, and now that the Democrats have the absolute majority when one of the Republican senators, Arlen Specter become a Democrat few days ago, the "Armenian Bill" will breeze through with or without the Republicans help. I have also told you why Obama choose to go to Turkey on his first official trip to Europe, is to get it out of the way, because Obama will be less welcomed in the future as the "Genocide" bill goes through at later date, and you can see just how much Turkey had reacted with the above report. Wait until the Genocide bill passes and you will see real fireworks.!
So I guess, the "honeymoon" is over between the USA and Turkey and it only took few weeks from when Obama was in Turkey. We generally give our US Presidents 100 days of "honeymoon", which has just passed, which Obama still enjoys the joys of honeymoon with the American people, but the same can't be said with Turkey.!
Pre election it was Genocide after visit to Turkey it has now become a Catastrophe, lets see how things develop, if at all.
