Turkey Renews Offer to Armenia for Joint Study of Genocide Claims

By VOA News
29 April 2005

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his country is ready
to build ties with neighboring Armenia, despite disagreements over
decades-old allegations of Turkish genocide against Armenians.

In an interview with the newspaper Milliyet, Mr. Erdogan renewed his
call for creation of a joint Turkish-Armenian commission to study the
disputed genocide issue. He said this could coincide with the
establishment of political relations between the two neighbors. The
countries share a border, but have no diplomatic ties.

Tuesday, Armenian President Robert Kocharian said his country could
take part in a commission, but he first called for improved ties.

Armenia says 1.5 million of its nationals were slaughtered by the
Turks during the final years of the Ottoman Empire 90 years ago,
characterizing this as genocide. Turkey says 300,000 Armenians and
thousands of Turks were killed during a Russia-backed Armenian
uprising against Ottoman rule.

Some information for this report provided by Reuters, and AP.