Obama visit, NATO occupy opposition

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Obama visit, NATO occupy opposition
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Nisan 08, 2009 00:00

ANKARA - Opposition leaders who held short meetings with U.S. President Barack Obama criticized the Turkish government’s policy on Armenia and its attitude toward the election of the new NATO secretary-general in remarks yesterday.

"There is the cartoon crisis [between Denmark and Turkey]. It is unacceptable for a country to abuse a people’s prophet, to insult their religion and the Koran in the name of human rights and freedom of the press," Republican People’s Party, or CHP, leader Deniz Baykal said in his address to the party’s parliamentary group meeting. "Roj TV is still broadcasting. The government acted in a wrong way on this issue."

Baykal said that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s open opposition to the candidacy of former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen turned "the issue into a matter of propaganda. Rasmussen, in the end, became secretary-general even earlier than expected. This is a scandal in terms of foreign policy."

Turkey had opposed Rasmussen's bid for the top NATO post, saying his unwillingness to suspend broadcasts by a Denmark-based television station, Roj TV, that has been linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, terrorist organization, and his stance during the 2006 crisis over a Danish newspaper’s publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed cast doubts on his ability to lead the alliance. Touching on the relations between Turkey and Armenia, Baykal added, "Azerbaijan was offended by the manipulation of other parties and the hastiness to establish dialogue with Armenia." Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, leader Devlet Bahçeli also criticized the government’s attitude toward the appointment of Rasmussen as the new NATO secretary-general. "A recent example of [the AKP's] unsteady policy was observed in the appointment of Rasmussen," Bahçeli said.
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