Obama reiterates support for Turkey-Armenia peace process

In a letter to Armenian-American organizations, U.S. President Barack Obama has reiterated his backing for the ongoing normalization process between Turkey and Armenia, a major Armenian-American group said this weekend.

"I believe this historic process has important benefits for the future of both countries," Obama said in the letter sent to the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America, the Armenian General Benevolent Union and the Armenian Assembly of America, or AAA, according to a statement by the Armenian National Committee of America.

"We continue to support Armenia and Turkey as they move ahead to fulfill the promise of normalization," Obama said in the letter.

Despite the ongoing reconciliation process, Armenian-Americans are continuing to urge both the Obama administration and the U.S. Congress to formally recognize the World War I-era killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

During last year's election campaign, Obama pledged to categorize the killings as genocide if elected president. After assuming the office in January, however, he began supporting the reconciliation process.

At the time, Obama said he would not make any move jeopardizing that process - angering Armenian-American groups, who accused him of breaking his promise.

In his latest letter to Armenian groups, Obama said: "Regarding the past, I deeply appreciate your views on what is one of the great atrocities of the 20th century. As I said in my Remembrance Day message, my view of that history has not changed. My interest remains the achievement of a full, frank and just acknowledgement of the facts."

Obama made similar remarks when he visited Turkey in early April. The U.S. president's letter came shortly before his planned meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the White House on Monday.

In the latest major development related to the reconciliation process, the Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers signed protocols Oct. 10 under which Ankara and Yerevan pledged to establish normal diplomatic relations and reopen their land border.

The deal, if ratified by the two countries' parliaments, would effectively end decades of hostile relations. The protocols, however, have not yet been ratified by either country.

Turkey and Armenia presently have no official diplomatic relations, while Turkey has kept its land border with Armenia closed since 1993 in protest of the Armenian invasion and occupation of Azerbaijani territory in an early 1990s war.

Ankara has been urging Armenia to withdraw from occupied Azerbaijani lands so that the normalization process can proceed. However, Obama said the reconciliation process should proceed without preconditions.

"Normalization between Armenia and Turkey should move forward without preconditions and within a reasonable timeframe," he said.

The fate of the reconciliation process will be one of the top items on the agenda at Monday's meeting between Erdoğan and Obama, officials from both sides said.

Armenian-American groups are now accusing Turkey of dragging its feet over the implementation of the normalization process.

"Prime Minister Erdoğan - having succeeded in using the Ankara-inspired protocols [with Armenia] to enlist the cooperation of yet another U.S. administration into its campaign to block recognition of the Armenian genocide - is now coming to Washington to cement his gains and further press his advantage," the Armenian National Committee of America said in its weekend statement.

/Huriyyet Daily/