Obama’s remarks yesterday;
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2009119540_obama25.html
McClatchy is not known as a right-wing mouthpiece, as other
U.S. media such as Ruppert Murdoch’s Fox News Channel are.
Yet above it emphasizes his campaign promise to recognize
the genocide, and now reneged.
I think that’s too slanted. We know the counterweights he
has to apply vis-a-vis Turkey. And the normalization is now
underway – he is not going to upset that.
The story quotes critical Armenian voices in America. But
I think Obama has managed to highlight the matter, which
in itself is a form of pressure on Turkey.
excerpted;
In a much-anticipated White House statement, Obama took note of the “great atrocities” that occurred in the Ottoman Empire from April 24, 1915, until 1923. While saying 1.5 million Armenians were “massacred or marched to their death,” the president said the most important thing now was to look ahead.
“I strongly support efforts by the Turkish and Armenian people to work through this painful history in a way that is honest, open and constructive,” Obama said.
The president also twice used the Armenian phrase “meds yeghern,” often translated as “great calamity.”
— ]]>
Club Asparez, Levon Barseghyan, praised Obamaâ€s statements, saying, "Steps taken by Obama are praiseworthy in terms of the normalization of the Turkish-Armenian relations."
Caucasus Institute President Alexander Isgandaryan said it had been apparent that Obama would not risk relations with Turkey [...] but added that he found Obamaâ€s statements in Turkey positive. "U.S. support for the opening of the border between Turkey and Armenia and the establishment of relations is crucial," he said. <a href="http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/domestic/11386587.asp?scr=1" rel="nofollow">link</a></blockquote>
]]>]]>Yerevan Press Club chairman Boris Navasartyan said he welcomed Obama’s remarks in Turkey, but said the real weight of the matter was on Turkish and Armenian leaders.
“The important thing is the step Armenia and Turkey are willing to take without any pressure. The step needs to be persuasive,” he said.
[…]
The chairman of the Gyumri Journalists’ Club Asparez, Levon Barseghyan, praised Obama’s statements, saying, “Steps taken by Obama are praiseworthy in terms of the normalization of the Turkish-Armenian relations.”
Caucasus Institute President Alexander Isgandaryan said it had been apparent that Obama would not risk relations with Turkey […] but added that he found Obama’s statements in Turkey positive. “U.S. support for the opening of the border between Turkey and Armenia and the establishment of relations is crucial,” he said. link
]]>US President Barack Obama urged a peaceful solution to long-running disputes between Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey in a telephone call Tuesday with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.
Obama, who visited Turkey this week before making a surprise stop in Iraq Tuesday afternoon, said the US was committed to “supporting progress” to resolve a long-running conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabah, a region claimed by both countries.
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/04/07/armenia-turkey-mixed-reaction-to-obama-speech/
In an interesting development, the Swiss foreign minister has revealed that she is mediating between Turkey and Armenia:
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/news_digest/Calmy_Rey_meets_Obama_during_Turkey_Armenia_talks.html?siteSect=104&sid=10549854&cKey=1239117624000&ty=nd ]]>
water’s edge at least — “terrible events of 1915”
Okay, that’s better than not mentioning it – I think…
He also referred to our U.S. history of ethnically-
driven wrongs, in bringing the Turks along. Pretty
good move Barack – and we’ve historically found
some positives in airing our dirty laundry. We’ll face
it & come away with something cathartic, and that
may have been Obama’s point exactly in Ankara.
You have to balance a lot of things as U.S. president,
apparently. When you can take both sides, you do it… ;^)
So he in fact straddled that fence & cited the ongoing
normalization process with Armenia as the conduit to
resolution of the historical disagreement, as expected.
The slaughter would be cited, but in words other than
slaughter and genocide.
Still it can’t have hurt to try prodding the Turks forward,
even if just a square or two. Best outcome of Obama in
Europe this week: George Bush is in fact, gone…
– Roy Greenfield / Cincinnati
– ]]>
http://www.slate.com/id/2215445/ ]]>
]]>U.S. President 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.
Ankara and Yerevan are engaged in high-level negotiations to end nearly a century of hostility, including the reopening of the border — a move which could help shore up stability in the volatile Caucasus.
“On the margins of tonight’s Alliance of Civilisations dinner, the president met the foreign ministers of Turkey, Armenia and Switzerland to commend their efforts towards Turkish-Armenian normalisation and to urge them to complete an agreement with dispatch,” a senior U.S. official told reporters in Istanbul. link
“…what I want to do is not focus on my views right now but focus on the views of the Turkish and the Armenian people,” the president said. “If they can move forward and deal with a difficult and tragic history, then I think the entire world should encourage them.”
He added that he is not interested in “the United States in any way tilting these negotiations one way or another while they are having useful discussions.” link
Of course, it becomes extremely awkward for him if those talks break down. Basically, he is giving Turkey the opportunity to come to terms with its own past and that means much more than any U.S. pronouncement. Let’s see.
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