Journal of Turkish Weekly
June 10 2005
20 Armenian journalists coming to Turkey
source: Hurriyet
The Turkish Journalist Union is going to host a group of 20 Armenian
journalists for 4 days in Istanbul, Ankara, Antalya and Urgup-Goreme.
The project, supported by the Culture and Tourism Ministry, will have
the 20 Armenian journalists spending one night in Istanbul, two
nights in Ankara, and one night in Antalya and Urgup-Goreme. Meetings
that take place with the group will attempt to focus on the theme
that any pain from 1915 should not be allowed to be transmitted to
future generations of the two countries.
A visit planned to the Armenian Patriarchate
Head of the Turkish Journalists’ Union, Turgut Dedeoglu, said that as
members of the press, they wanted to take action to help increasing
tensions on the Armenian claims of genocide.
Dedeoglu said that after visiting the Dogan and Sabah media groups,
the 20 journalists would also tour the Armenian Patriarchate.
Dedeoglu said also that there would be meetings bringing the visitors
together with Turkish journalists.
The Armenian journalist group has also indicated a desire to speak
with high placed members of the Turkish government, including Turkish
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. Regarding the dialogue that he his
hoping will be sparked by the visit, Dedeoglu said “We will try to
explain that any pain from 1915 should not be passed on to future
generations.” He also stressed that his group’s stance is that, since
there was no government policy at the time, there was no genocide
that took place either.
Archives may be opened to journalist group
The visit of the Armenian journlists will be an opportunity to have
the Turkish History Foundation open its archives to Armenia, said
Dedeoglu. Though the opening of the archives to the visiting group
has not been confirmed, Dedeoglu says that the Turkish Journalists
Union is working to make it happen. He also assered that the Foreign
Ministry looked warmly on the upcoming visit, which is scheduled for
July.