Turkish PM may meet Armenian leader

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
May 3 2005

Baku, May 2, AssA-Irada – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan
may propose a tete-a-tete meeting with Armenian President Robert
Kocharian at one of the future international events, Turkish ‘Zaman’
(Time) newspaper quoted the country’s diplomatic sources as saying.

Erdogan earlier proposed to set up a joint commission to look into
the historic developments in the Ottoman Empire in 1915-1918, falsely
referred by Armenians as ‘genocide’. Such a group comprising Turkish
and Armenian historians would study archives of Turkey, Armenia
and other countries and make the research results available to the
international community. The Armenian President rejected the proposal,
suggesting that the relations between the two countries be normalized
‘without any pre-conditions’.

Kocharian and the Turkish premier are due to attend the events
in Moscow dedicated to the 60 anniversary of Victory in World War
II on May 9 and a summit of the Council of Europe in Warsaw on May
15-16. A source from the Turkish premier’s administration said that the
Kocharian-Erdogan meeting may be held within the CE summit. However,
no agreement has been reached on the date and venue of the meeting yet,
the newspaper reported.

The Armenian administration said they are unaware of the planned
meeting.*