Zaman, Turkey
Jan 26 2005

‘Armenian Minister not Based in Reality’
By Ali Pektas

The Director of Ataturk University’s Turkey-Armenia Relations
Research Institute, Assistant Professor Erol Kurkcuoglu, said he did
not find the statement by Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan
that was published in Zaman yesterday regarding their recognition of
the Kars Agreement to be in earnest.

According to Kurkcuoglu, Armenia has followed hostile policies
against Turkey so far and said Armenia should prove it recognizes the
Kars Agreement by withdrawing from the occupied Azerbaijani
territories and making necessary amendments to the constitution. Some
eastern Turkish provinces such as Erzurum, Kars, Agri, Igdi, Ardahan,
and Van are still called West Armenia in the constitution, said
Kurkcuoglu, and this should be corrected. He also said that Armenians
must withdraw immediately from the territory of Karabag (Karabakh)
from which 1.5 million Azerbaijanis had to emigrate. “If Armenia
recognizes the Kars Agreement, it has to give up the so-called
genocide claims,” Kurkcuoglu said. The Director also clarified that
Armenians killed 519,000 civilians in Eastern Anatolia between 1914
and 1919 contrary to their claims and said they have been inviting
Armenian scientists to their panels and symposiums, but that they
decline to attend.

Erzurum

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress