Obama urges Turkey and Armenia to normalise ties

[Mr Crowley]

Barack Obama urged the foreign ministers of Turkey and Armenia during a meeting on Monday to complete talks aimed at restoring ties between the two neighbours, a U.S. official said.

The official was referring to a U.N.-backed conference in Istanbul organised to discuss ways of building bridges between the Muslim world and the West, which Obama attended on Monday as part of his visit to Turkey.

Obama told reporters earlier in Ankara that he stood by his views on mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915, which he has termed genocide, but said he expected a breakthrough in talks between Turkey and Armenia.

A breakthrough between Turkey and Armenia could help shore up stability in the volatile Caucasus, criss-crossed by oil and gas pipelines which make it of strategic importance to Russia, Europe and the United States.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with Azerbaijan, which was fighting Armenian-backed separatists over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Obama has praised Turkey for its role in helping to work towards a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which he said "has continued for far too long."

Turkey accepts that many Christian Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks during World War One but strongly denies that up to 1.5 million died as a result of genocide.
Obama urges Turkey and Armenia to normalise ties - Yahoo! News UK
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I think that Obama's moves here are about consolidation and stabilisation; particularly in regard to the gas and oil pipelines.
The Armenian massacre is still a serious issue for the Armenians; particularly given that Turkey still refuses to aknowledge it.
Turkey still has significant ties with the US, it was supposed to have been used as a staging ground for American forces to enter Northern Iraq in 2003 until popular protest among the people caused a govt backdown.
Obama has made further overtures to Turkey; stating that the US was not at war with Islam whilst promising more aid in fighting PKK Kurdish seperatists.
Obamas overtures towards stability will ring hollow to many who also see the continued occupation of Iraq and military support for Israel.

[Trampas]

Turkey still has significant ties with the US, it was supposed to have been used as a staging ground for American forces to enter Northern Iraq in 2003 until popular protest among the people caused a govt backdown.

Either that or the islamist AKP govt would not countenance the invasion of another islamic state from their territory, thus rendering Turkey's NATO membership next to useless in dealing with all 21st century threats.

[Mr Crowley]

Either that or the islamist AKP govt would not countenance the invasion of another islamic state from their territory, thus rendering Turkey's NATO membership next to useless in dealing with all 21st century threats.

It may also have had a lot to do with the fact that the PKK and PDK could have swept into areas like the Mosul region in the wake of the US forces and aquired more territory, materials and influence. Turkey would have a constant eye on the Kurds and would have wished to reduce any impact that they could have on the invasion. With the Americans bottleknecked in Kuwait and forced to fight their way north, the potential for Kurdish gain was reduced.

[Gadjodilo]

This is all very well but just imagine if Germany turned nasty and suddenly started to deny the Holocaust. Would anyone seriously expect Israel to continue to engage in bilateral relations with Berlin?

It was a genocide. The documents in Turkish government archives show that the orders came from high up in the Ottoman command structure and the intention was to exterminate Armenian communities from what is now eastern Turkey for fear they'd cooperate with the advancing Russians.

[Trampas]

This is all very well but just imagine if Germany turned nasty and suddenly started to deny the Holocaust. Would anyone seriously expect Israel to continue to engage in bilateral relations with Berlin?

It was a genocide. The documents in Turkish government archives show that the orders came from high up in the Ottoman command structure and the intention was to exterminate Armenian communities from what is now eastern Turkey for fear they'd cooperate with the advancing Russians.

There are also the reports from ambassadors accredited to Constantinople at that time, including the German ambassador who having kept quiet for as long as he could out of solidarity with his wartime ally reported the genocide to Berlin. It happened all right.

[Mr Crowley]

The Turks obviously still bear animosity towards the Armenians as well as the Kurds when they took the side of Azerbaijan in 1993.