Gül: Our strategic cooperation is jeopardized

29.03.2007
Today’s Zaman İstanbul

Mr. Gül, you said "As Mr. Dink himself said in a published interview shortly before his tragic death, 'What I want from the Armenian Diaspora is not to make any demands about accepting the genocide, neither from Turkey, from the parliament nor any other governments'. ", as referenced un the article below. It takes only a mean spirit not to honour Hrant Dink by attending his funeral see "Turkish media has criticized top politicians and armed forces chiefs for not attending the funeral." here, and then turn around and distort his words to your benefit. Hrant Dink never said "neither from Turkey". What he said was speak to Turks directly, for Turkey to recognize the genocide. This shows the despicable approach Turkey has taken in denying the genocide. I hope the US Congress will see you for what you are. Mr. Gül, the greatness of Turkey is not manifested in winning. It is manifested in the way it stands on principles.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül has said "a single interest group" has jeopardized the US-Turkish relationship, in an article in a US newspaper.

"Our strategic partnership spans a wide range of global challenges, from helping secure Iraq and Afghanistan to preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, promoting energy security and fighting terrorism in our region and beyond," wrote Gül on Wednesday in an opinion piece in The Washington Times called "Politicizing the Armenian tragedy."

"Yet, such strategic cooperation is jeopardized by a single interest group that solely pursues its own political agenda over national interests. Once again, Armenian lobbying organizations are determined to politicize the past -- and impose their view of history -- without any regard to the overriding and lasting interests of the United States or Armenia."

Indicating that Turkey has no difficulties in facing its past, he said all Turkish archives, including the military archives of the period, are open to the entire international academic community. However, important Armenian archives are not.

In the article Gül also referred to the slain Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink's wishes: "As Mr. Dink himself said in a published interview shortly before his tragic death, 'What I want from the Armenian diaspora is not to make any demands about accepting the genocide, neither from Turkey, from the parliament nor any other governments'."

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.