Turkey summoned the U.S. Ambassador in Ankara, James Jeffrey, and expressed discomfort over U.S. President Barack Obama’s statement on the occasion of the “Armenian Remembrance Day” on April 24.
Jeffrey was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday and Turkey’s reaction, and views were communicated to him, said sources who spoke on condition of anonymity, The Anatolia News Agency reports.
Obama’s statement on April 24, “Armenian Remembrance Day” stirred wide reaction and drew severe critism from Turkey’s top officials and politicians on the grounds that it was biased.
Turkey’s President Abdullah Gül was the first to criticize Obama. He told reporters the following day that not only Armenians but hundreds of thousands of Turks and Muslims had lost their lives during the events of 1915, adding that pain and suffering of all people who lost their lives in 1915 should be remembered.
Gül said statesmen and politicians could not pass judgement on events in the history, adding that it was time to look to the future and give a chance to diplomatic efforts for solution of issues between Turkey and Armenia, and Armenia and Azarbaijan.
Gül was followed by Premier Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who argued that Obama’s statement was related with a pledge he made to Armenian lobbies during his election campaign.
“Such a sensitive issue requiring expertise, which should in fact be left to historians, is continuously being used as a tool for politics and exploited by lobbies every year, and this prevents normalization of relations between people and countries,” Erdoğan was quoted as saying.
