Armenian president responds to Turkish premier on bilateral ties

Mediamax news agency
26 Apr 05

YEREVAN

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan sent a response to Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan today, the presidential press service
told Mediamax new agency today.

Mediamax new agency publishes the full text of the Armenian
president’s letter:

“Dear Mr Prime Minister, I have received your letter.

“Indeed, as neighbours, we must seek ways to live in accord today and
in the future. Exactly for this reason, we suggested from the very
beginning establishing diplomatic relations, opening the borders and
starting a dialogue between the two countries and peoples.

“There are neighbouring countries in the world, for example, in
Europe, which have had a difficult past and still have
disagreements. Nevertheless, this does not prevent them from having
open borders, normal relations, diplomatic ties, representatives in
the two countries’ capitals and discussing disputed issues in
parallel.

“Your proposal to touch on the past cannot be productive, if it does
not concern the present and the past. It is necessary to establish a
favourable and appropriate political atmosphere in order to engage in
a productive dialogue. The government bears responsibility for
developing bilateral relations and we have no right to delegate it to
historians. Taking this into account, we suggested and suggest again
establishing normal relations between our countries without
preconditions.

“In this context, an intergovernmental commission could be set up to
discuss any problem or all important problems existing between the two
countries in order to solve [problems] and reach mutual understating.”

[Passage omitted: Quotes from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan’s letter]