Turkey’s archives open to check Armenian genocide claims – premier

NTV television, Istanbul
11 Apr 05

[Studio announcer] Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that
the concept of Kurds must not be confused with the PKK [Kurdistan
Workers’ Party]. Speaking in Norway, Erdogan also touched on the
Armenian genocide claims. NTV reporter Nermin Yurteri will inform us
now on the details:

[Yurteri] [Passage omitted] Prime Minister Erdogan conveyed important
messages in connection with the Armenian genocide claims. He said: The
government and the opposition challenged the claims. We are opening
all the state archives. Everyone should come and study the
documents. If an act of genocide was committed in the past, then we
will be prepared to account for it . However, the Armenians must be
prepared to account for their history if an act of genocide was not
committed.

Prime Minister Erdogan underlined another important point. He said
that a letter has been drawn up in connection with the Blue Book on
the Armenian allegations and noted that it will be signed by 550
MPs. Erdogan said that the letter will be conveyed to the two houses
of the British parliament. In a sense, it will call for an apology to
Turkey. The copies of the same letter will be conveyed to the 11
countries that have taken the book as a reference. [Passage omitted]