Hurriyet, Turkey
Jan 19 2005

VAT MEETING CANCELLED, RUSSIA WANTS TO ACT AS A MEDIATOR BETWEEN
TURKEY AND ARMENIA

The Viennese Armenian-Turkish Platform (VAT) yesterday announced that
it would not carry through its starting initiative “The First
Viennese Armenian-Turkish Round Table” originally planned for spring
2005. The reason is that the Armenian side has failed to provide the
platform with the necessary confirmation as agreed in August 2004.
The Turkish side accepted to participate in the dialogue, in which
each part was supposed to present 180 documents on the year 1915
showing their understanding of the so-called Armenian genocide. In
July 2004, the first 100 documents each from the Armenian and Turkish
side were exchanged to get the dialogue started. The VAT was founded
by four Austrian historians as a neutral platform serving as an
intermediary for Turkish and Armenian researchers scientifically
investigating the Armenian-Turkish Question. In related news, the
Moscow radio yesterday announced that the Russian Federation is ready
to act as a mediator between Turkey and Armenia as well as the
guarantor of any possible agreement to be signed between the two
countries. /Hurriyet/