Erdoğan to announce today final call on attending nuclear summit

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday said that he is likely to announce his final decision on whether to accept an invitation from the White House today, noting that he would return the Turkish ambassador, who was recalled last month, back to Washington if he decides to attend the nuclear energy summit.
“At the moment, I’m making the assessment with my advisers,” Erdoğan said when asked whether he would participate at the summit on nuclear security on April 13.

Following the adoption of a nonbinding resolution by the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs on March 4 recognizing the World War I-era killings of Ottoman Armenians as genocide, Turkey recalled its ambassador in Washington, Namık Tan, to Ankara for consultations while Erdoğan put his visit to the United States April 13-14, during which he is to attend the nuclear energy summit in the US capital at the invitation of US President Barack Obama, on hold.

“I think that I will announce my decision on this issue tomorrow [today]. In the case that I decide to go, then I will soon send our ambassador back,” Erdoğan added.

During a telephone conversation between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on Sunday, which was initiated by the US side, the former reiterated that the Obama administration stands opposed to the resolution on Armenian genocide and is also against a full House vote on the measure.

During the same conversation, Clinton told Davutoğlu that US officials hope Erdoğan will attend the nuclear summit in Washington, D.C., Foreign Ministry spokesperson Burak Özügergin said in a statement released on Monday. In response, Davutoğlu said Erdoğan would decide in the coming days whether to attend the meeting or not. More than 40 world leaders are expected at the summit.

Speaking with reporters earlier on Thursday before Erdoğan’s brief remarks on his Washington visit, Özügergin highlighted that Ankara considers the telephone conversation between Clinton and Davutoğlu as “useful” in regards to its ongoing assessment on the timing of Tan’s return to Washington. He also noted that there was no exact decision yet on Tan’s return or Erdoğan’s participation in the nuclear summit, unlike what Turkish newspapers claimed in their Thursday editions.

Later on Thursday afternoon, Davutoğlu was scheduled to host a US delegation at the ministry led by Republican Congressman Edward Whitfield (Kentucky), the co-chairman of the Congressional Caucus on US-Turkish Relations, who is among the critics of the resolution.

Özügergin, speaking with reporters during an online press conference held by the ministry, was also reminded of recent Turkish news reports quoting a senior Armenian official as suggesting that Yerevan was planning to propose putting the normalization protocols signed by the two capitals on hold and asked whether Turkey has received such a proposal.

“No official request by Armenia for the annulment or suspension of the signed protocols has arrived. Beyond this, even putting forward such a discourse is not appropriate,” Özügergin said.

“On the other hand, claiming that Turkey is not interested in the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue would not be true. Instead of discussing whether this element was within the protocols or not, it is necessary to get used to seeing the Nagorno-Karabakh issue as part of the integrated whole in regards to peace and stability in the Caucasus. In other words, it will not be possible to resolve problems in the region without having the Nagorno-Karabakh issue resolved,” he added, referring to a territorial dispute between Baku and Yerevan.

Recent Turkish news reports also quoted the same senior Armenian official as voicing disappointment over the fact that Turkey has turned the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue into a precondition, although this was not the case when the protocols were negotiated and eventually signed.

Source: Today's Zaman.
Link: http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-206146-100-erdogan-to-announce-today-final-call-on-attending-nuclear-summit.html.