Zaman, Turkey
April 15 2005

EU Cautious over Turkish Proposal on Armenian Genocide Allegations
By Selcuk Gultasli
Published: Friday 15, 2005
zaman.com

The European Union (EU) has not given a clear response to a Turkish
proposal to re-examine the Armenian genocide allegations in a joint
and independent commission.

Brussels adopted a cautious approach on the proposal and refrained
from describing the step as positive. Emphasizing that the issue is a
historical one and is not included in the Copenhagen Criteria, EU
Commission officials expressed in a statement to Zaman that
clarifying the “tragic events” occurred in 1915 would help to
normalize relations between Turkey and Armenia. The officials
designated that they called on Turkey to build confidence to solve
the issues between Turkey and Armenia and indicated that opening the
border would help reconciliation. Citing that universities,
academics, and intellectuals in Turkey have started a new debate
about the 1915 incidents recently, they underlined that this new
awareness of the issue is important. Noting that Turkey’s proposal is
similar to US calls commission members said that, “this proposal is
an important step to understand the issue,” but avoided a clear
response to the question of whether the step is a positive one.
Co-president of the Turkey -Europe Joint Commission Joost Lagendijk
said that he reacted to Turkey’s initiative with great satisfaction
and added: “As I understand it, the proposal includes an independent
commission consists of Turkish and Armenian historians. This is a
good and positive opportunity that should not be lost”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress