US-Turkey relations may go downhill

Sunday, 11 February 2007
Sabah

British Financial Times Newspaper wrote that Turkey's strained relationship with the Bush administration is likely to worsen after the foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, failed to make significant progress on Ankara's main objectives in Washington this week.

FT commented that disagreements, centered on Iraq and a resolution proposed in the US Congress that would officially recognize the mass killings of Ottoman Armenians as genocide, threaten to intensify anti-American sentiment in Turkey, while raising concerns in the US about a possible Turkish military intervention in northern Iraq.
According to Financial Times, Abdullah Gul's week-long visit to the US had three main aims: to get a firm US commitment to act against anti-Turkish PKK militants in northern Iraq; to postpone a referendum due this year on the status of Iraq's Kurdish-claimed and oil-rich city of Kirkuk; and to lobby against the Armenia resolution. However, the proposed genocide resolution - which is backed by key lawmakers, including Nancy Pelosi, Democratic speaker of the House - posed a "real threat" to US-Turkey relations.

Ms Pelosi signaled her position by not being available to meet Mr Gul.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.