82 Congressmen send letter to Obama on Armenian-Turkish relations

PanARMENIAN.Net - On July 30, under the leadership of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues Co-Chairs, Representatives Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Mark Kirk (R-IL), along with Congressmen Adam Schiff (D-CA) and George Radanovich (R-CA), a bipartisan group of legislators (82 Members of Congress) sent a letter to President Barack Obama highlighting Turkey's failure to live up to its commitments regarding normalizing of relations with Armenia without preconditions, reported the Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly).



As PanARMENIAN.Net came to know from Armenian Assembly of America (AAA), the letter read in part "We write to you [Mr. President] with our concerns about Turkish backpedaling on the agreed upon roadmap to normalize relations between Turkey and Armenia." Recalling stated U.S. policy "that normalization should take place without preconditions and within a reasonable timeframe," the letter pointed out Armenia's constructive approach and raised concerns about Turkey's counterproductive actions: "While the Government of Armenia remains committed to this roadmap and has long offered to establish ties with Turkey without preconditions, Turkey's public statements and actions since April 24th stand in sharp contrast to this agreement and undermine U.S. policy that normalization take place without preconditions."



Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny commended this bipartisan initiative stating that "Armenia has repeatedly offered to normalize relations with Turkey without preconditions only to be rebuffed by Turkey. We also support the position espoused by the Members that the Administration should separate the issues of normalization and Armenian Genocide affirmation. U.S. affirmation of the Genocide should not be held hostage to normalization of relations."