Azernews.Az

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to raise the issue of settling the Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict by the end of 2009 in a meeting with US President Barack Obama, due December 7, Turkish daily Cumhuriyyet has reported quoting government sources.
Erdogan will reportedly warn Obama that, if the long-standing conflict is not settled within this timeframe, the process of normalizing Ankara’s relations with Armenia will become complicated, as well.
Erdogan will ask Obama for support in speeding up the work of the OSCE Minsk Group mediators and in urging Russia and France - the other two co-chair countries - to be more determined in settling the conflict.
Turkey and Armenia face decades of enmity. Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 due to Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territory and genocide claims. The two governments signed protocols to establish diplomatic relations and reopen their borders on October 10 in an effort to normalize ties. However, the documents require ratification in both countries’ parliaments to take effect, and Ankara has made clear it could fully normalize ties with Yerevan only after the Garabagh conflict has been settled, i.e. after Armenian troops pull out of the occupied Azerbaijani territories.
Meanwhile, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) launched a four-week campaign on Monday aiming to secure recognition of the alleged World War I-era genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire at the Erdogan-Obama meeting and achieve the issuance of "true messages" to that end. One of the goals being pursued in the initiative is to achieve US Congress and media’s defending the Armenian stance during discussions on the "genocide" issue.
On the campaign website, the Committee posted the following message next to the photos of the Turkish prime minister and the US president: "President Obama, do the right thing on December 7. Recognize the Armenian genocide."
Different activities are planned during each week of the campaign. First, the Committee intends to work with US Senate, then the House of Representatives, the US legislature’s lower chamber, and finally, the lobbyists will campaign in the White House.
Aram Ambarian, ANCA Executive Director, has sent a letter to the Senate claiming that President Obama is failing to deliver on the promise to recognize the "genocide" he had allegedly made after meeting with Prime Minister Erdogan this past April.
"Even if we set aside Obama’s sidestepping the pledge, the White House leader has agreed to establishing a commission of historians questioning the genocide and essentially supported the pressure Turkey is putting on Armenia in this respect," the letter claims.
Nonetheless, Ambarian said the Armenian lobby was expecting Obama to "rectify his mistake" and keep his promise.
Armenians, who say Ottoman Turks killed 1.5 million people in 1915, a claim strenuously dismissed by Turkey, have been seeking passage of a "genocide" bill in US Congress and continue trying to muster international support on the issue.*