Itar-Tass
TASS
April 14 2005
Armenia says no proposals from Turkey on genocide commission
YEREVAN, April 14 (Itar-Tass) – Armenian government did not receive
any proposals from Turkey on setting up a bilateral expert commission
to study the facts of genocide of ethnic Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire in 1915, said Victor Sogomonian, the press secretary of
Armenia’s President.
`The presidential administration staff did not get any letters to
that effect from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,’
Sogomonian said.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdulla Gul said in the national parliament
Wednesday that Erdogan had sent a letter to President Robert
Kocharian containing a proposal to set up a commission that would
study the facts of extermination of ethnic Armenians in 1915.
He also said Turkey was ready to hold talks with Armenia on the
personalities to work on the commission and the methodology of their
activity.
Ankara believes this might help normalize relations between the two
neighboring countries.
The problem of Armenians genocide is the stumbling block in the
progress of relations between Turkey and Armenia that do not have
even diplomatic relations.
Armenia puts international recognition of genocide on the list of its
foreign policy priorities. Turkey denies those facts.
The campaign of carnage against the Armenians who lived in the
Ottoman Empire resulted in the deaths of 1.5 million people.