HyeOctane

Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan had deferred from comment on the U.S. Presidential elections last week, stating that the decision rightly belonged to the American people. All that changed this morning, with Erdogan – in an apparent moment of undiplomatic candor – calling Democratic Presidential hopeful Barak Obama a “political dilettante” for his support for Congressional passage of Armenian Genocide legislation.

“The relations between Turkey and US will not be sacrificed to bad campaigns of lobbies. He has got political dilettante problem for this candidacy. We advice him to solve this problem,” stated Erdogan, according to the Azeri APA news service.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) reported that Sen. Obama issued a powerfully worded statement on January 19th, stating that “America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian Genocide and responds forcefully to all genocides. I intend to be that President.”

Additional campaign statements are expected in the upcoming days, according to the ANCA, which recently provided an overview of the records of the major Presidential candidates on Armenian American issues.