Turkish Press
April 26 2005

We Do Not Take Armenian Allegations As Serious, Sahin

BEIJING – ”We do not take Armenian allegations as serious”, Turkish
State Minister & Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin said on
Tuesday.

Answering questions of Turkish reporters during his stay in Chinese
capital of Beijing, Sahin said, ”we do not take these allegations as
serious because they contradict historical realities. This can be
considered as a political maneuver of some Armenian organizations
against Turkey. These are initiatives aiming at causing difficulties
for Turkey and Turkish nation, and gaining results. As the Turkish
parliament and government, we have launched initiatives against
these.”

”Our archives are open, and we open them to any one who wants to
examine them. We have suggested that we set up a commission to
examine the archives and share the results with the world. We are not
afraid of anything,” added Sahin.

EU MEMBERSHIP

Touching on European Union (EU) membership bid of Turkey, Sahin said,
”Turkey has fulfilled not only Copenhagen political criteria but
also Maastricht economic criteria so far, and will continue to do so
on its road to EU.”