Turkish prime minister attends opening of Armenian museum in Istanbul

.c The Associated Press

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
officially opened an Armenian museum in Istanbul on Sunday and said he
was committed to protecting the rights of minority Armenians.

Erdogan joined Mesrob II, the Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul, and
other leaders of Turkey’s Armenian Christian minority of 65,000 for
the opening of the museum at the Yedikule Surp Pirgic Armenian
Hospital.

“Armenian citizens are an indispensable part of (Turkey). Every
artifact in this museum shows a past that was lived together,”
Erdogan said. “We are now protecting each other’s rights, aware of
our citizenship, and it will be like this forever.”

Most Armenians in this predominantly Muslim but secular country live
in Istanbul.

Turkey, which recognizes Armenians as an official minority, is under
pressure to improve rights for minorities as part of efforts to join
the European Union. Turkey hopes that EU leaders will agree to open
membership talks with it at a Dec. 17 summit.

Ties between Armenians and Turks have often been strained over the
mass killing of Armenians during and after World War I.

Armenians say that a 1915-1923 campaign to force Armenians out of
eastern Turkey left 1.5 million people dead and amounted to genocide.

Turkey objects to the use of the word “genocide.” Turkey says the
figures are inflated and that deaths were the result of civil unrest
and not a planned campaign.

The museum includes religious artifacts, antique medical equipment and
an Ottoman decree that established the hospital in 1832.

12/05/04 12:34 EST