US Congressmen signing letter to Barack Obama on Armenian-Turkish relationsJuly 19, 2009 - 01:29 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - At the bipartisan initiative of Reps. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D.-N.J.), and Mark Kirk (R.-Ill.), the co-chairs of the House Armenian Caucus, and Reps. Adam Schiff (D.-Calif.) and George Radanovich (R.-Calif.), members of Congress are being asked to sign a letter to President Barack Obama on Armenia-Turkey relations, the armenian reporter reports.Referring to the normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey and the Armenian Genocide, the letter calls on President Obama "to separate the issues of normalization and genocide recognition." The authors of the letter note that the State Department on April 22 released a statement welcoming the announcement of Armenia and Turkey that they had agreed on a roadmap toward the normalization of relations. Two days later, on April 24, instead of recognizing the Armenian Genocide, the president opted to focus on the road map. The authors note that Armenia has remained committed to the roadmap, but Turkey has chosen to "undermine U.S. policy that normalization take place without preconditions." They conclude that Turkey, "in an effort to block U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide, agreed to a roadmap it did not intend to uphold." Members of Congress who sign the letter will be asking the president to proceed with recognizing the Genocide as he promised, and separately continuing to urge Turkey to proceed with normalization of relations with Armenia. Top stories Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Moscow on April 22 to hold talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". Partner news | Armenian delegation participating in NATO PA session The delegation is headed by Andranik Kocharyan, the chairman of the standing committee on defense and security matters. Schengen visa cost won’t change for Armenia – diplomat The increase in the cost of a Schengen visa will not apply to citizens of Armenia, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson has said. Yeremyan Projects opens state-of-the-art dairy production plant Yeremyan Projects officially launched the Yeremyan Products state-of-the-art milk processing plant in Yerevan on May 24. Armenian PM’s helicopter makes emergency landing in Vanadzor The helicopter transporting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made an emergency landing in Vanadzor. |