Obama Statement on Armenian Remembrance Day

President Barack Obama on Friday refrained from branding the massacre of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians in Turkey a "genocide," breaking a campaign promise while contending his views about the 20th century slaughter had not changed.Marking the grim anniversary of the start of the killings, the president referred to them as "one of the great atrocities of the 20th century."

Labels: Armenia, Armenian Massacre, Barack Obama, Turkey

Leave Turkey’s bid to join EU to us, Nicolas Sarkozy warns Barack Obama - by David Charter

The love-in between Nicolas Sarkozy and Barack Obama proved short-lived after the French President warned his US counterpart yesterday to keep his nose out of the issue of Turkey’s membership of the European Union. President Obama used his first EU-US summit, on the eve of his visit to Turkey, to encourage European leaders to embrace the Muslim country and “anchor it in Europe”. However, Mr Sarkozy, a long-standing opponent of full membership for Turkey, rebuffed the US leader in language that seemed to sour the revival of Franco-US relations. Support for Turkey in joining the EU, a process that it began formally in 2005 and hopes to complete before 2020, has long been an American foreign policy goal.

Mr Sarkozy, who has talked of offering Turkey a privileged partnership rather than membership, did not wait to hit back. “I have been working hand in hand with President Obama but when it comes to the European Union it is up to member states of the European Union to decide [on membership],” Mr Sarkozy said in an interview on French television. “I have always been opposed to this entry and I remain opposed,” he added.

Labels: Barack Obama, EU Enlargement, Turkey, USA

He’s not the Barack Obama Europe Knew - by Abe Greenwald

Where Ronald Reagan tore down a wall, Barack Obama has hit one – and it’s made of bricks. European support for the American president is suffering. As Gregor Peter Schmitz asserts in Der Spiegel, “it has become clear that the most contentious issues [between the U.S. and Europe] have been shelved.” This means Obama is no longer asking Europe to replicate his idea of a stimulus plan and he’s not pushing for military help in Afghanistan. On both issues European leaders have declared, “No we can’t.” When it comes to instituting a global stimulus plan, the American president is further to the Left than Europe -- and Europe still objects. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy say they favor more government regulation in lieu of more government spending. Obama sought to immediately clarify. He told the Financial Times on Sunday, "The press has tended to frame this as an 'either/or' approach. I have consistently argued that what is needed is a 'both/and' approach. We need stimulus and we need regulation." In other words, Europeans are choosing their statist options from an a la carte menu, but in the U.S. we’re going family style. Nevertheless in Europe putting blame for the global financial crisis squarely on America’s shoulders is a relished pastime, and no matter how statist Obama gets, the Continent can’t be seen to follow the U.S.’s lead.

Labels: Barack Obama, EU, USA

Labels: armenian, Barack Obama, Democrat, Senator Obama, Turkey