A handshake in Warsaw; Erdogan laments Kocharian speech

Hurriyetim
17 05 2005

Diplomacy only made it as far as a handshake yesterday in Warsaw,
when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Armenian President Robert
Kocharian met up at a summit of European Council Ministers. Later,
PM Erdogan reserved his strongest words of the trip for the Armenian
leader and some of the governments of the countries participating in
the summit.

Kocharian speech mentions genocide, thanks European countries
for support In a speech made to the general summit participants,
President Kocharian mentioned the so-called Armenian genocide, and
thanked the countries whose parliaments had officially recognized
the event. This brought forth a sharp retort from PM Erdogan, who
called on Kocharian and Armenia to “first pull out from Azeri lands
that they have invaded.” PM Erdogan reserved scathing criticism for
not just Kocharian, but the Polish Parliament, which recently passed
a decision to recognize the so-called Armenian genocide, as well as
other European governments preparing to do the same.

Regret from Poland

PM Erdogan has already threatened the 15 countries, including Poland
and France, which have recognized the so-called Armenian genocide that
Turkey will “pass bills in our parliament about your genocides.” At a
press conference held during the summit, Erdogan revealed that Polish
President Alexander Kwasniewski had come to him to express his own
personal regret for the Polish Parliament’s recent decision. A brief
overview of Erdogan’s words from the press conference follows:

“(Referring to the letter written to Kocharian from Ankara) We laid
out our sensitivity on this matter in a very clear format. We were
clear and direct about our views. Compared with past responses,
they gave a more positive answer to our letter. But to talk about
the baseless Armenian claims here is, as far as I am concerned,
playing to the masses. We have opened our archives. Let them open
theirs….Let the future not be built on the hatred and grudges of
the past, but on top of peace and love.”

Erdogan warns Turkey may start own genocide research Erdogan warned
further:: “If this goes any further, we will start recognizing the
genocides committed by other countries in our parliament.

But we will not speak without documents. We will start with the 15
countries which have recognized the Armenian claims.”