Washington briefing: Senior Turkish official in Washington ahead of Obama’s visit

by Emil Sanamyan

Published: Friday March 27, 2009

Ahmet Davutoglu. Armenian Reporter

Washington - Ahmet Davutoglu, senior foreign policy advisor to Turkish leaders, last week met with U.S. officials to discuss President Barack Obama's visit to Ankara and Istanbul on April 5-7.

After meeting Mr. Obama's national security advisor Jim Jones on March 19, Mr. Davutoglu told Reuters that he could not say what the Obama administration's intentions were with regard to the president's pre-election pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide, adding only that the two officials "went through all these issues in a very friendly and cooperative manner."

Administration officials have so far refused to address the Armenian Genocide issue directly.

Mr. Davutoglu suggested that U.S.-Turkey relations were "in a historic era where our policies are almost identical on all issues," Associated Press reported him as saying on March 19. He added that the Armenian Genocide issue "could be debated from a historical perspective, but should not hijack the strategic vision of Turkish-American relations or Turkish-Armenian relations."

With regard to Armenia-Turkey talks, Mr. Davutoglu said that "there is a process, and everyone should strengthen this process and not try to weaken it," the Washington Post cited him as saying. "We hope that the discussions on the Armenian issue [in U.S.] do not affect this process in a negative sense."

During a visit to Washington shortly before the presidential elections, Mr. Davutoglu insisted that Turkey wants "to have best relations with Armenia," and "good relations" with Armenians in the diaspora. (See this page in the November 1, 2008, Armenian Reporter.)