Al-Jazeerah.info, GA
April 30 2005

Turkey Sees `Political Ties’ With Armenia

Agencies, Arab News

ANKARA, 30 April 2005 – Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was
reported yesterday as saying Turkey was ready to build `political
relations’ with neighboring Armenia despite their disagreements over
history and territory. Turkey broke off diplomatic ties with the
ex-Soviet republic in 1993 over Armenia’s occupation of territory
inside Azerbaijan, a regional Turkic-speaking ally of Ankara.

Ankara also angrily rejects Yerevan’s claims that 1.5 million
Armenians suffered genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks during
World War I. Turkey says the Armenians were victims of a war which
claimed even more Muslim Turkish lives.

But Erdogan, worried the genocide issue could harm Turkey’s plans to
start European Union entry talks in October, recently urged Armenia
to help set up a commission of historians from many countries to
establish what really happened.

Erdogan renewed that invitation in an interview with Milliyet
newspaper, adding: `On the one hand, political relations could be
established. On the other hand, work (on the archives) could
continue. There is no Chinese Wall between us.’

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan said this week he was ready to
accept Erdogan’s proposal for a joint commission to probe the
genocide claims but he also said it was necessary to improve broader
relations first. Erdogan did not mention the possibility of restoring
full diplomatic relations, but his comments were the clearest sign
yet that Turkey wants to mend fences with Armenia.

Some EU politicians, notably in France, home to Western Europe’s
largest Armenian population, have said Turkey should recognize the
alleged genocide of Armenians before being allowed to start accession
negotiations with the wealthy bloc. But German Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder, who is due to pay an official visit to Turkey next week,
ruled out any linkage between the start of EU entry talks and the
Armenian question.

`This (recognition of genocide) cannot be a precondition. This is
about bilateral relations. It’s for the historians to decide (what
happened),’ Schroeder told Turkey’s NTV commercial television in an
interview broadcast yesterday. He also praised Erdogan’s offer to
open up Turkey’s archives on the period and his call for an
international commission. `It’s very important for a nation to look
at its history with an attitude of self-criticism,’ Schroeder added.

He said an expected vote in the German Parliament in the coming weeks
on a resolution concerning the alleged genocide should not upset
relations between Ankara and Berlin. Turkey has in the past
threatened countries that do recognize the massacres as a genocide
with diplomatic sanctions.

Erdogan also accused the European Union of fanning nationalism in
Turkey by interfering in the issue of its minority Kurds, the
newspaper said. Turkey has eased restrictions on Kurdish language and
culture as part of its drive to join the EU, but some politicians and
top generals fear Kurdish separatists are trying to use the more
liberal climate to extract more concessions.

An unsuccessful attempt by youths last month to burn a Turkish flag
during a pro-Kurdish demonstration triggered protest rallies and
marches by angry Turks across the country.