'Historic opportunity' between Turkey,Armenia-US Sen.
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Ümit Enginsoy
OluÅŸturulma Tarihi: Mart 02, 2009 00:00
WASHINGTON - A leading U.S. congressman has said he sees a historic opportunity for rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia that may lead to the opening of the countries’ land border and a normalization of diplomatic relations this year.
Robert Wexler, a Democratic lawmaker from Florida and co-chair of the Turkish Friendship Caucus in the House of Representatives, spoke at a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Friday after meeting with top Turkish officials, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan. Â
"I came back from Turkey last week," he said, "and it seems to me that we are on the cusp of a historic opportunity with respect to Turkish-Armenian relations and the possibility in 2009 for extraordinary engagement between those two countries, the possibility of opening borders and things that might follow, such as normalization."
Wexler's remarks came amid preparations by pro-Armenian lawmakers to introduce a new resolution in the House calling for the formal recognition of the 1915 incidents as "genocide".
Turkish officials have warned that the passing of an "Armenian genocide" resolution by Washington would damage relations in a major and lasting way.
Turkey became one of the first nations to recognize Armenia's independence amid the disintegration of the former Soviet Union in 1991.
But Armenia's invasion and occupation of the enclave of Nagorno Karabakh and part of Azerbaijan proper in 1993 prompted Ankara to close Turkey’s border with Armenia and decline to establish diplomatic ties with Yerevan.
During his election campaign last year, U.S. President Obama pledged to recognize 1915 incidents as "genocide", but some analysts and pro-Turkey politicians suggest that a Turkish-Armenian rapprochement might prevent Washington from doing so.
"I came back from Turkey last week," he said, "and it seems to me that we are on the cusp of a historic opportunity with respect to Turkish-Armenian relations and the possibility in 2009 for extraordinary engagement between those two countries, the possibility of opening borders and things that might follow, such as normalization."
Wexler's remarks came amid preparations by pro-Armenian lawmakers to introduce a new resolution in the House calling for the formal recognition of the 1915 incidents as "genocide".
Turkish officials have warned that the passing of an "Armenian genocide" resolution by Washington would damage relations in a major and lasting way.
Turkey became one of the first nations to recognize Armenia's independence amid the disintegration of the former Soviet Union in 1991.
But Armenia's invasion and occupation of the enclave of Nagorno Karabakh and part of Azerbaijan proper in 1993 prompted Ankara to close Turkey’s border with Armenia and decline to establish diplomatic ties with Yerevan.
During his election campaign last year, U.S. President Obama pledged to recognize 1915 incidents as "genocide", but some analysts and pro-Turkey politicians suggest that a Turkish-Armenian rapprochement might prevent Washington from doing so.