TURKEY WILL SOON APPOINT AN ETHNIC ARMENIAN AMBASSADOR TO PARIS By Hakob Avedikian British non-governmental organization Wilton Park on March 24-26 organized "Turkey's policies for engagement in the contemporary world" international conference in Istanbul, supported by the British Foreign Ministry. On the 3rd day of the conference, on March 26, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu in his speech also touched upon the Armenian -Turkish relations and reminded the definition about the Armenian-Turkish relations given by him during one of his previous speeches: "All of our neighbors are our friends, and Armenia is our potential friend". After the speech of the Turkish Foreign Minister, different participants were given the opportunity to ask questions to the minister. The latter answered the questions in detail, including the question on the fortune of Turkish-Armenian protocols asked by the editor-in-chief of "Azg" daily, who was invited to the Conference. We will touch on Davutoğlu’s answer more widely in the next publication of our newspaper; now we will note the last part of his speech, which is the most important in terms of journalism. Speaking about Turkey’s openness to the world, , Davutoğlu, maybe to emphasize it, informed that soon, within the upcoming three months, a Turkish scholar of Armenian descent, an economist will be appointed Turkey’s Ambassador to Paris. The minister said that he has already presented the new candidate to Prime Minister Erdoğan and President Gül, who approved his candidacy. What refers to delaying the appointment for 3 months, it was made at the Armenian economist's request to complete one of the works on his authorship. "And I understand him", said Davutoğlu, "I have been in his situation being forced to shelve my personal works of authorship." Davutoğlu did not say anything about the personality of the future Ambassador. The Turkish Foreign Ministry high-ranking employees, with whom the editor-in-chief of "Azg" daily later had a chance to enter into a private conversation within the framework of the Conference, also did not know anything about that. They said that the information was a great surprise to them. Only one of them said to the editor-in-chief of "Azg" that the above mentioned person is a famous professor from the MIT University, he is well known in the economic world, and for several times he took an important part in the international conferences on Turkish economy. Later, from Istanbul's well-informed circles, "Azg" daily managed to ascertain the name of that person - Daron Acemoğlu. This scholar’s parents are teachers from Istanbul. He is the Head of the Department of Economics at MIT, and he also leads a group of specialists at the university, which were twice nominated for the Nobel Prize for their studies. We believe that this information will not be accepted unequivocally by the Armenian press, both local and Diaspora, and the Turkish propaganda will provide important dividends in the international arena. |
