Iran, Turkey and Brazil have reached an agreement Monday night on an uranium exchange deal, intended to ensure Iran’s nuclear program is only used for civilian purposes and remove the need for additional Western sanctions on Iran, Israel Radio Reported.

According to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, the compromise was reached after 18 hours of continuous negotiations, and a formal press announcement might be made on Tuesday Morning, when all details are finalized by leaders of the three countries.

In a related development, Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva met with Iranian leaders on Sunday, and called the relationship between the two countries “strategic.”

Speaking in defense of Iran’s right to “independently navigate its course” to seek development and improvement, Silva stressed that a peaceful nuclear research program was within Iran’s sovereign rights.

Silva, who is in Iran for the Summit of the Group of 15 developing nations, spoke following meetings with Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The Brazilian president went on to say that there were those who hoped his visit would fail.

Ahead of the visit, sources in the US State Department called Silva’s visit the last chance for Iran to prevent the next round of sanctions against it. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton predicted that Silva’s mediation effort would not succeed, saying new sanctions are the only way to bring Iran around to cooperation.

Brazil hopes to enrich nuclear material for Iran

The reported agreement is the result of Brazilian efforts to revive a previous UN-backed proposal, in which Iran would ship its stockpile of enriched uranium abroad to be processed further and returned as fuel rods that could not be processed beyond its lower, safer levels, which are suitable for use in the Teheran research reactor.

Iran initially accepted the original UN deal but then balked and proposed changes rejected by the world powers negotiating with Teheran.

Brazil may be hoping to supplant Russia in the original UN proposal as the state that processes the nuclear material for Iran.

Turk PM opposes sanctions on Iran, urges diplomacy.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that he did not favor imposing economic sanctions to pressure Iran into showing that it has no covert nuclear weapons program.

“We are of the view that sanctions is not a healthy path and…that the best route is diplomacy,” Erdgoan said at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
(Reuters)

Washington (CNN) — A narrowly passed committee measure that recommends the United States recognize the 1915 killings of ethnic Armenians in Ottoman Turkey as genocide will likely not get a full vote in the House of Representatives, according to a senior State Department official.

The official said Friday that the State Department has an understanding with House leadership on the issue, and, “We believe it will stop where it is.”

The measure passed 23-22 in the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday.

In response, Turkey ordered its ambassador to the United States home for “consultation,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Ozugergin told CNN.

The nearly century-old issue has placed both Congress and the White House in the middle of a political minefield, balancing moral considerations with both domestic and international concerns.

The Obama administration had urged the House Foreign Affairs Committee not to pass the resolution, warning it could damage U.S.-Turkish relations and jeopardize efforts to normalize relations between Turkey and its neighbor Armenia. The two do not share formal diplomatic relations.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters Friday that “the Obama administration strongly opposes the resolution that was passed by only one vote in the House committee, and we’ll work very hard to make sure it does not go to the House floor.”

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters ahead of the vote that the United States was concerned about the impact the vote could potentially have on U.S.-Turkish relations. Turkey, among other things, is considered a strong American ally and is home to a critical U.S. air base.

Armenia’s foreign minister, Edward Nalbandian, said his country highly appreciates the committee’s vote. “This is another proof of the devotion of the American people to universal human values and is an important step toward the prevention of the crimes against humanity,” he said. The Armenian National Committee of America said the passage of the measure shows that “Turkey doesn’t get a vote or a veto in the U.S. Congress.”

Turkish officials vehemently oppose the measure.

“Turkey is saddened by the bill that has been accepted in the Foreign Affairs Committee today [Thursday],” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Web site said.

“We condemn this bill that accuses the Turkish nation of a crime it has not committed. The people who support this bill have adopted a wrong and unfair attitude, ignoring the differences of opinion of expert historians and historical facts. The bill has been prepared with tangible historical mistakes regarding the 1915 incidents and with a completely subjective attitude,” the statement said.

A Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman recently issued a public warning that passage of a resolution labeling the World War I killings as genocide “would harm U.S.-Turkish relations.” Turkish officials have also warned that passing the resolution could hurt a historic agreement aimed at normalizing relations between Turkey and Armenia, and efforts to reopen their long-closed border.

“It would harm the normalization process,” spokesman Ozugergin said. “And it is wrong. The substance is also wrong.”

Turkey officially denies a genocide took place in the last days of the crumbling Ottoman Empire. Ankara instead says that Muslim Turks and Christian Armenians massacred each other on the killing fields of World War I.

Historians have extensively documented the Ottoman military’s forced death-march of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Armenians into the Syrian desert in 1915. Every April 24, Armenians worldwide observe a remembrance day for those killed.

The killings decimated the Armenian population in what is modern-day eastern Turkey.

The government in the Armenian capital of Yerevan and influential Armenian diaspora groups have been urging countries around the world to formally label the events of 1915 “genocide.”

“I don’t pretend to be a professional historian,” Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, D-California, said ahead of Thursday’s vote. “But the vast majority of experts … agree that the tragic massacres of the Armenians constitute genocide.”

Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York, acknowledged that Turkey is an “important, strong [and] necessary ally of the United States.” But “overriding all of that,” he said, “is the issue of justice and the issue of history. … History has to be righted.”

Opponents of the resolution had expressed sympathy toward the victims of the 1915 killings, but said current political concerns took priority.
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Official: Armenian genocide resolution unlikely to get full House vote

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. congressional panel voted on Thursday to label as “genocide” the World War One-era massacre of Armenians by Turkish forces, prompting Turkey to recall its ambassador from Washington.

The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee voted 23-22 to approve the non-binding resolution, which calls on President Barack Obama to ensure U.S. policy formally refers to the killings as genocide.

The action cleared the way for the measure to be considered by the full House but it was unclear whether it would actually come to a vote there. The Obama administration and Turkey had pressed lawmakers to drop the matter.

The vote triggered an immediate condemnation from Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who recalled Turkey’s ambassador to Washington for consultations. Erdogan said he worried the measure would harm Turkish-U.S. ties and efforts by Muslim Turkey and Christian Armenia to end a century of hostility.

The vote put Obama in a tight spot between his desire to maintain good relations with Turkey, a Muslim but secular democracy that plays a vital role for U.S. interests from Iran to Afghanistan to the Middle East.

On the one side is NATO ally Turkey, which rejects calling the events genocide. On the other side is an important U.S. Armenian-American constituency and their backers in Congress ahead of congressional elections in November.

ARMENIA HAILS VOTE

“We highly appreciate the decision,” Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian told Reuters. “This is further proof of the devotion of the American people to universal human values and is an important step toward the prevention of crimes against humanity.”

The price on Turkey’s 2030 benchmark Global Bond did not change after the vote. It remained down 0.44 points in price to 160, yielding 6.465 percent.

“I don’t think there will be any reaction in the markets unless the political response from Turkey elevates it as an issue,” said A.J. Mediratta, senior managing director at Greylock Capital Management in New York.

“Clearly the U.S. administration didn’t want this to come to a head and I think the Turkish government understands this. If there is a reaction, it will come at the London open tomorrow.”

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telephoned House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, a fellow Democrat, on Wednesday to argue the measure could harm efforts to normalize Turkish-Armenian relations, the White House said.

Turkey and Armenia signed a protocol last year to normalize relations but it has yet to pass through the parliament of either country. Obama called Turkish President Abdullah Gul on Wednesday to urge quick ratification, the White House said.

Despite Clinton’s appeal, Berman went ahead with a committee debate and a vote. He said Turkey was a “vital” ally but “nothing justifies Turkey’s turning a blind eye to the reality of the Armenian genocide.”

Turkey accepts that many Armenians were killed by Ottoman forces but denies that up to 1.5 million died and that it amounted to genocide — a term employed by many Western historians and some foreign parliaments.

(Additional reporting by Daniel Bases in New York and Zerin Elci in Ankara; Editing by Matt Spetalnick and John O’Callaghan)

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Turkey pulls envoy after U.S. vote on “genocide” label