Turkish Speaker delays visit to Russia over Armenian declaration

NTV television, Istanbul
6 May 05

The reaction of the Turkish Grand National Assembly [TBMM] against the
countries supporting the Armenian genocide allegations is continuing.

Speaker Bulent Arinc, who last week had sent a letter of condemnation
to the Polish parliament, announced today that he had postponed his
visit to Russia which was due to take place in June.

The declaration of the Russian lower house of parliament, Duma,
on the recognition of the Armenian genocide last week had caused
irritation in Ankara-Moscow relations. The Russian charge d’affaires
had already been summoned to the Foreign Ministry. And today, speaker
Arinc announced that he has postponed his 6-9 June visit to Russia.

Earlier, Arinc had sent a letter of condemnation to the Polish
parliament and Turkey had cancelled Polish parliamentarians’ visit
to the TBMM.

In a previous statement, Arinc had said that the national parliaments
are not suitable platforms to judge contentious periods of history.