NEWS.am posts the article published by Al Arabiya news agency.
“Turkey’s foreign minister has welcomed a decision by U.S. lawmakers not to take up a resolution declaring last century’s mass killings of Armenians a genocide,” the source reads.
Ahmet Davutoglu said approval of the resolution would have harmed U.S.-Turkish ties and hampered Turkey’s efforts to normalize ties with longtime foe Armenia.
Davutoglu said “common sense has prevailed once again.”
“Supporters of the resolution made a push for approval in the final days of Congress, despite opposition from the Obama administration. Instead, the House of Representatives ended its two-year term Wednesday without taking up the matter,” the source reports.
Meanwhile, Israel is boosting its ties with Balkan nations after a deep freeze in relations with Turkey, formerly its closest and strongest regional ally.
For over a decade, Ankara and the Jewish state shared warm relations, bolstered by important agreements on defense and the high-tech industry.
Ties were so strong that Ankara even acted as an intermediary for indirect peace talks between Israel and Syria,” the source says.
The relationship faltered in December 2008, when Israel launched a devastating military operation in the Gaza Strip, prompting Turkey to abandon its mediation efforts.
“But the final blow to the once-solid partnership was a May 2010 Israeli raid on a convoy of ships trying to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza. The navy operation killed nine Turks and caused a major crisis in bilateral ties.
Israel is in low-key talks with Ankara to restore relations, but in the meantime has been noticeably upgrading ties with other nearby countries including Greece, Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria,” the source reports.
“In August, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu became the first Israeli premier to visit Greece, traditionally a pro-Arab country, after signing a series of military and economic cooperation deals. Israel hopes to one day export some of the natural gas recently discovered in marine gas fields off its northern shore to Europe via Greece,” the author stresses.
“As part of its development of the fields, Israel also signed a deal delineating an economic free zone with Cyprus, prompting an outcry from Turkey, which occupies the northern part of the island and does not acknowledge the internationally-recognized Cypriot government that signed the deal.
But Israel brushed off the criticism, and has forged ahead with other agreements that fill gaps created when relations with Ankara became soured.
In particular, the troubled ties mean Israel can no longer train its air force in Turkish skies, a blow to a small country with little space of its own. In recent months, it has begun carrying out joint air force exercises with Greece, Romania and Bulgaria,” the source informs.
“Despite the slew of new initiatives aimed at Balkan nations, Israel officially denies that the improved ties are intended to supplant Turkey’s role,” the source reads.
