Anatolian Times, Turkey
April 27 2005

Kocharian suggests Turkish-Armenian intergovernmental commission

Armenian president replies to letter from Prime Minister Erdogan.
Despite Erdogan’s suggestion of forming a commission of historians
from both Armenia and Turkey to study the so-called Armenian
genocide, Kocharian put a very different choice on the table. ‘The
political atmosphere should be prepared for dialogue,’ says Kocharian
in his letter. And he proposes the formation of an intergovernmental
commission to study all the problems between two countries.

Armenian President Robert Kocharian last week sent a reply to the
recent letter of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
suggesting the formation of a commission by Armenian and Turkish
historians to study the so-called Armenian genocide.

But Kocharian, in his letter which arrived in Ankara on Tuesday,
proposed a very different kind of commission. Underlining that it was
politicians’ responsibility to foster an atmosphere for dialogue, the
Armenian president suggested the formation of an `intergovernmental
commission’ between Armenia and Turkey.

`From the very beginning of the establishment of Armenia, we
extended our hands to open the border, to establish relations and to
start a dialogue with Turkey,’ he wrote in his letter.

Citing the example of European countries employing dialogue to solve
their mutual problems after World War II, Kocharian said that Turkey
and Armenia could also take similar steps. `A very difficult period
was experienced on the European continent,’ he wrote. `But this
did not prevent the opening of the borders between countries. They
continued to talk about the events that separated them.’

After these opening remarks, Kocharian touched on the recent letter
of Erdogan. `Your suggestion of discussing the past cannot be
effective if it does not include a discussion of the current
situation and the future of relations between our countries,’
Kocharian wrote. `The political atmosphere should be prepared for
the dialogue. To move mutual relations forward is the duty of the
politicians. We cannot leave this responsibility to the historians.”

The specific proposal of Kocharian came at the end of his letter.
`We can establish an intergovernmental commission to study every
problem between our countries and begin the discussions without any
precondition,’ Kocharian wrote.

The letter of the Armenian president fell short of the expectations
of Ankara, according to a Turkish diplomatic source. `We’re talking
about very different things,’ the source said. `We’re talking
about studying the past, Kocharian is talking about the present and
the future. And he didn’t mention anything about leaving the genocide
claims aside.’

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week sent a letter to
Kocharian saying the two countries should investigate the Armenian
genocide claims together. Erdogan proposed the establishment of a
common commission to investigate the Armenian genocide claims which
he said would also serve to bring the two countries closer together
in the future.