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24 Aug 2007 12:10 ]
The US Jewish organization, Anti-Defamation League’s announcing that it will recognize so-called Armenian genocide caused serious concerns in Turkey.
APA’s Turkey bureau reports Turkish Prime Minister Rajab Tayyib Erdogan in a telephone call to Israeli President Shimon Peres asked him to address this using his influence on the Jewish lobby in the US. Israeli President pledged to do his utmost.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul raised this problem during the meeting with Israeli ambassador to Turkey Pinhas Avivi. Gul warned on serious consequences of Jewish lobby’s renouncing its traditional position regarding so-called “Armenian genocide”. He warned that this would seriously harm Turkey-Israel relations. Israeli ambassador said ADL’s decision was a surprise to them too, “This surprised us much too. We did not expect that.”
Ankara’s warnings yielded soonest results. In its website, ADL posted a statement close to that of Turkey. The statement voices support for Turkey’s proposal to Armenia on setting up a joint commission of historians to investigate ‘Armenian genocide’ claims.
“We should try to create an atmosphere that Armenia react positively to Turkey’s proposals. We should achieve a joint commission and solution of disagreements between Turkey and Armenia,” the ADL’s statement reads. /APA/