Turkish PM speaks at Council of Europe summit, no Erdogan-Kocharian meeting

The New Anatolian, Turkey
May 18 2005

The recent letter exchange between Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan and Armenian President Robert Kocharian, about the
investigations on Armenian genocide claims, has created a positive
atmosphere and expectations of formal meetings between the two
leaders. The most suitable place for this Turkish-Armenian meeting was
in Warsaw, Poland, where both leaders arrived Sunday to participate
in the two-day Council of Europe summit, which ends today.

But despite all the expectations, the long-awaited meeting between
Erdogan and Kocharian did not materialize. Instead, Erdogan met Monday
with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, where Aliyev’s own meeting with
Kocharian was discussed.

The main issue considered at both the Aliyev-Erdogan and
Aliyev-Kocharian meetings was the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region
and the presence of Armenian troops there.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a mountainous region inside Azerbaijan that has
been under the control of ethnic Armenians since the early 1990s,
following fighting that killed an estimated 30,000 people.

“I hope that negotiations will bring results,” Aliyev was quoted as
saying by the Interfax-Azerbaijan news agency. “The positions are
well known. This issue has been discussed for years, and each side
has its own position. These positions have been discussed again.”

A ceasefire was signed in 1994, but the enclave’s final political
status has not yet been determined and shooting breaks out frequently
between the two sides, which face off across a demilitarized buffer
zone.

Speaking at the summit, Kocharian said his country was looking
“to find ways of including the de facto established Republic of
Nagorno-Karabakh into the European process of integration.”

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier and Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov also took part in the first part of the talks between
Aliyev and Kocharian, officials said. France, Russia and the U.S.

lead the Minsk Group under the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is seeking to foster a diplomatic
solution.

Kocharian speaks about so-called genocide

Kocharian touched the so-called Armenian genocide issue during his
address at the summit.

Claiming that 2005 marks the 90th anniversary of the so-called
genocide, Kocharian gave thanks to the states that had recognized
the incidents in World War I as genocide.

“We aim to encourage the recognition of the Armenian genocide in the
international arena,” he said. He also described the Armenians as the
“most damaged party” in World War I.

No words between Erdogan and Kocharian

The Turkish prime minister had an opportunity to chat with other
leaders during the meeting. But Erdogan and Kocharian did not meet
each other during the first day of the Council of Europe summit on
Sunday, according to Turkish sources.

Erdogan did though hold bilateral meetings with Georgian President
Mikheil Saakashvili and Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga.

Erdogan points to anti-Islamism

Unlike the Armenian president, Erdogan did not mention the dispute
between Turkey and Armenia about the so-called genocide during his
speech on the first day of the summit. The rise of anti-Islamism in
the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks was the main subject
discussed by the prime minister.

Noting that anti-Semitism, xenophobia and racism still persist,
Erdogan said, “Anti-Islamism has been added to these illnesses. It’s
difficult not to be concerned about these developments.”

Erdogan said that terrorism had begun to globalize and had killed
innocent people without regard to race, religion or culture. “The
struggle against terrorism needs a strong international solidarity,”
he said.

Remarking about the attitude that developed following the Sept. 11
attacks that came to define terrorism based on cultural and religious
values, Erdogan said, ~STerrorism has no religion, race or nation.”

“Any religion can engender terrorism and the killing of human beings,”
he said. “Some fanatical approaches began following Sept.

11. But today I see with pleasure that common sense is prevailing
and the expansion of these prejudices has been minimal.”

Erdogan also discussed the concept of the “other” as a cause of
disputes and clashes. “Throughout history we see attempts to exclude
the ‘other,’ and that dominating the ‘other’ only creates enmity and
disputes,” he said.

Erdogan continued his speech by asking the philosophical questions:
“Who is the ‘other’?” and “Is there really an ‘other’?”

“Or is this other concept the result of intolerance and a lack of
mutual understanding?” he continued. “We believe that the Council
of Europe, which brings people together under the common democratic
values of European countries, is the best platform to work to end
prejudice based on intolerance.”

Describing democracy as multi-dimensional mode of thinking, Erdogan
said: “Democracy is first related to the freedom of expression. It’s
also related to respecting the majority’s right to administrate,
as well as respect for the rights of minorities. It’s related to
the ability to come together under common interests, and support
for the roles of women within society and politics. It’s related to
transparency. We uphold these values in Turkey.”