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 WASHINGTON–Over
80 House House Members on Thursday expressed concern about
Turkey’s backtracking on a so-called “roadmap” to advance
Armenia-Turkey dialogue, urging President Obama to separate
Armenian Genocide recognition from normalization of ties between
the two countries, reported the Armenian National Committee of
America (ANCA.)
“We commend the leadership of Representatives Pallone, Kirk,
Schiff, Radanovich and their 78 colleagues in calling attention
to Turkey’s efforts to inject the resolution of the Karabakh
conflict as a precondition to lifting the its illegal blockade
of Armenia,” said ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian. “U.S.
affirmation of the Armenian Genocide should not be held hostage
to a sham ‘roadmap’ designed to prolong U.S. complicity in the
denial of that crime against humanity.”
In
a July 29th letter to President Obama, initiated by
Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and
Mark Kirk (R-IL) as well as Armenian Genocide resolution lead
sponsors Adam Schiff (D-CA) and George Radanovich (R-CA),
Members of Congress questioned Turkey’s commitment to talks
normalizing relations with Armenia, as stated in a “roadmap”
agreement signed just two days prior to April 24th, the
international day of commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.
Turkey has since added preconditions to continued discussions,
which have led most observers of the process to conclude the
effort to be stalled indefinitely.
“It would appear that Turkey, in an effort to block U.S.
recognition of the Armenian Genocide, agreed to a roadmap it did
not intend to uphold,” notes the letter to the President.
“Therefore, we urge your Administration to separate the issues
of normalization and genocide recognition. We hope that renewed
efforts and focused resources from the Administration can be
utilized to nurture the Armenia-Turkey normalization process
without preconditions and within a reasonable timeframe, and
continue to remain strongly supportive of your stated campaign
policy to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide.”
The letter comes just days following a statement by Turkish
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu once again citing that the
resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict as a precondition to
Armenia-Turkey normalization efforts. In recent weeks, Western
diplomats have stated that dialogue between Armenia and Turkey
is virtually frozen. An ANCA fact sheet outlining Turkey’s
backtracking from the April 22nd “roadmap” agreement
can be viewed here.
Over the past two weeks, Armenian Americans have been contacting
their legislators to cosign the Congressional letter. ANCA Leo
Sarkisian intern Nareg Aghjayan documented the grassroots
community efforts to educate Congress about Turkey’s
backtracking on the roadmap in a “Capital Perspectives” piece
issued Thursday,
posted on the ANCA Leo Sarkisian 2009 blog page:
Joining Reps. Pallone, Kirk, Schiff and Radanovich in cosigning
the letter to President Obama were Representatives: Gary
Ackerman (D-NY), Joe Baca (D-CA), Michele Bachmann (R-MN),
Shelley Berkley (D-NV), Howard Berman (D-CA), Gus Bilirakis
(R-FL), Bruce Braley, (D-IA), John Campbell, (R-CA), Lois Capps
(D-CA), Michael Capuano (D-MA), Dennis Cardoza (D-CA), Jim Costa
(D-CA), Jerry Costello (D-IL), Joe Courtney (D-CT), Joseph
Crowley (D-NY), Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Steve Driehaus (D-OH),
Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Chaka Fattah (D-PA), Bob Filner (D-CA),
Barney Frank (D-MA), Elton Gallegly (R-CA), Scott Garrett
(R-NJ), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Rush Holt
(D-NJ), Michael Honda (D-CA), Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), Patrick
Kennedy (D-RI), Dale Kildee (D-MI), Leonard Lance (R-NJ), James
Langevin (D-RI), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Sander Levin (D-MI), Daniel
Lipinski (D-IL), Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), Daniel Lungren (R-CA).
Stephen Lynch (D-CA), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Edward Markey
(D-MA), Betty McCollum (D-MN), Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), James
McGovern (D-MA), Jerry McNerney (D-CA), Candice Miller (R-MI),
Walt Minnick (D-ID), Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Richard Neal
(D-CA), Devin Nunes (R-CA), John Olver (D-MA) Payne, Donald
(D-NJ), Gary Peters (D-MI), Collin Peterson (D-MN), Mike Quigley
(D-IL), Peter Roskam (R-IL), Steven Rothman (D-NJ), Edward Royce
(R-CA), Bobby Rush (D-IL) Paul Ryan (R-WI), Loretta Sanchez
(D-CA), John Sarbanes (D-MD) James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Brad
Sherman (D-CA), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Mark Souder (R-IN), Zack
Space (D-OH), Jackie Speier (D-CA), John Tierney (D-MA), Dina
Titus (D-NV), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Niki Tsongas (D-MA), Chris Van
Hollen (D-MD), Tim Walz (D-MN) Henry Waxman (D-CA), Anthony
Weiner (D-NY), Frank Wolf (R-VA), and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA).
The full text
of the letter to President Obama follows:
July 30, 2009
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
We
write to you with our concerns about Turkish backpedaling on the
agreed upon roadmap to normalize relations between Turkey and
Armenia.
On
April 22, 2009, just two days before the 94th commemoration of
the Armenian Genocide, the Department of State released the
following statement:
The United States welcomes the statement made by Armenia and
Turkey on normalization of their bilateral relations. It has
long been and remains the position of the United States that
normalization should take place without preconditions and within
a reasonable timeframe. We urge Armenia and Turkey to proceed
according to the agreed framework and roadmap. We look forward
to working with both governments in support of normalization,
and thus promote peace, security and stability in the whole
region.
Two days later, instead of recognizing the Armenian Genocide,
the Administration opted to focus on this new roadmap to
Armenian-Turkish normalization. “I also strongly support the
efforts by Turkey and Armenia to normalize their bilateral
relations,” you wrote. “Under Swiss auspices, the two
governments have agreed on a framework and roadmap for
normalization. I commend this progress, and urge them to
fulfill its promise.”
While the Government of Armenia remains committed to this
roadmap and has long offered to establish ties with Turkey
without preconditions, Turkey’s public statements and actions
since April 24th stand in sharp contrast to this agreement and
undermine U.S. policy that normalization take place without
preconditions.
On
May 13, 2009, Prime Minister Erdogan publically conditioned
normalization of relations with Yerevan on Azerbaijan’s approval
of a future settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict that
fully meets Baku’s satisfaction. “I want to repeat once more
that until the occupation ends, the border gates [with Armenia]
will remain closed,” Erdogan told the Azeri Parliament.
On
June 17, 2009, EU South Caucasus Envoy Peter Semneby said Turkey
had taken “tactical steps backwards” in the normalization
process with Armenia.
It
would appear that Turkey, in an effort to block U.S. recognition
of the Armenian Genocide, agreed to a roadmap it did not intend
to uphold. Therefore, we urge your Administration to separate
the issues of normalization and genocide recognition. We hope
that renewed efforts and focused resources from the
Administration can be utilized to nurture the Armenia-Turkey
normalization process without preconditions and within a
reasonable timeframe, and continue to remain strongly supportive
of your stated campaign policy to officially recognize the
Armenian Genocide.
Sincerely,
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