WILL KOCHARIAN AND ERDOGAN MEET IN WARSAW?
AZG Armenian Daily #080, 04/05/2005
Armenia-Turkey
‘Nothing Has Been Arranged Yet’ RA President’s Speaker Says
“Referring to “diplomatic sources,” the Turkish Zaman informed in
its May 1 issue that Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish prime minister, is
preparing “the second initiative,” i.e. the meeting with RA President
Robert Kocharian.
Zaman wrote that, according to the information by the Staff of the
Turkish PM, the tête-à -tête meeting of Erdogan and Kocharian
is envisaged in Warsaw, where the CE Summit will be held on May
15-16. But before that, Kocharian and Erdogan will participate in
another international arrangement. The 60th Anniversary of Victory
in World War II will be celebrated in Moscow on May 8-9.
“The time and the place of the meeting haven~Rt been specified yet,
but the opportunity of such a meeting will be created during the
Summit. If Erdogan and Kocharian meet, they will discuss the statements
on the genocide for the first time face to face,” Zaman wrote.
Victor Soghomonian, speaker of RA President, said in the interview
to daily Azg that “nothing has been arranged yet.”
The Turkish newspaper emphasized that Ankara’s diplomatic initiative
in the “issue of the statements on genocide” began by the exchange
of the letters the leaders of both countries addressed to each other.
On April 10, Erdogan suggested Kocharian “to create a group of
historians and other experts that would study the events and
the developments of the past not only in the archives of Armenia
and Turkey but also in the archives of third countries and would
also inform the international community about the results of the
research.” RA President mentioned in his response that “we have not
the right to give these plenipotentiaries to the historians. Thus,
we suggest establishing natural relations between two countries
without any preconditions.”
Before Kocharian received the letter, the Turkish press, as well as
The New York Times wrote that RA President refused the suggestion of
the Turkish PM, trying to make the impression that Armenia avoids to
unfold a discussion.
One shouldn~Rt exclude, that in this case also the Turkish press
tries to speak of the probable meeting between Erdogan and Kocharian
beforehand, so that they can blame Armenia for its unwillingness to
meet if the meeting doesn~Rt take place.
If the meeting in Warsaw takes place that shouldn~Rt be considered as
something extraordinary, as Kocharian has already met the Turkish PM
twice. On June 15, 1998, Kocharian met with Suleymam Demirel, former
Turkish PM in Yalta. The second meeting took place on November 17,
1999, within the framework of the OSCE Istanbul Summit. RA President
calls this meeting a bilateral “display of good will.”
By Tatoul Hakobian
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