Turkey to respond if US imposes sanctions
DOHA-Anadolu Agency
Turkey will respond to any sanctions imposed by the U.S., the Turkish foreign minister said on Dec. 14.
"If sanctions are applied, Turkey will have to respond. We are trying to overcome this issue without sanctions and through dialogue and mutual understanding," Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said at the 19th Doha Forum held in the Qatari capital.
Speaking about a resolution passed in the U.S. Senate on Armenian allegations over the events of 1915, Çavuşoğlu reiterated that politicians with limited historical knowledge should not "judge history".
"[The U.S.] Senate passed this resolution due to their disappointment over Turkey's [Peace Spring] Operation in northern Syria and due to the Armenian and other lobbies that support them," he said.
On Dec. 12, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution recognizing Armenian claims on the events that transpired in 1915.
Turkey's position on the events of 1915 is that the deaths of Armenians in eastern Anatolia took place when some sided with invading Russians and revolted against Ottoman forces. A subsequent relocation of Armenians resulted in numerous casualties.
Turkey objects to the presentation of the incidents as "genocide" but describes the events as a tragedy in which both sides suffered casualties.
Ankara has repeatedly proposed the creation of a joint commission of historians from Turkey and Armenia plus international experts to examine the issue.
Maritime agreement between Turkey and Libya
Citing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's recent remarks that Ankara might consider sending troops to Libya if the Libyan government made such a request, Çavuşoğlu said: "We will look into it once a request comes and evaluate it."
On Nov. 7, Ankara and Tripoli-based Libyan government reached two separate memorandum of understandings (MoU), one on military cooperation and the other one on maritime boundaries of countries in the Eastern Mediterranean.
