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| 18:02:18 | 10-06-2005 | Politics |

IS THE GENOCIDE PART OF THE COMMON CULTURE?

«We have a common culture», said doctor Turhan Chomez, deputy of the Turkish
Parliament during the meeting with the Yerevan State University professors
and students. Doctor Chomez is the youngest deputy in Turkey, member of the
governing «Fairness and Development» party, and is the advisor and assistant
of the Prime Minister Rejeb Taip Erdoghan. He explained his visit to Armenia
by his desire «to make a step in the Armenian-Turkish relations».

He informed that they had fears in Turkey that he would not be received well
in Turkey. «I was not very quiet while coming but when I return I will tell
that I was received warmly», said the Turkish deputy. «Today I am your
friend from Turkey», finished the prologue of his speech Doctor Chomez. Then
YSU pro-rector Aram Avetisyan invited the professors and student of the
University to an interview.

The President of the YSU Student Council immediately informed the Doctor
that «we do not have a common culture». The he asked, «Is it normal to
condition the Armenian-Turkish relations by the Armenian-Azeri ones? ». The
Turkish deputy did not answer the question (by the way, he did not answer
any question about the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and the Armenian-Azeri
relations – editorial). He only said, «In order to make the settlement of
the relations of the two countries possible it is necessary to see the
common circles of problems». Then he said that the relations must be
established without prejudice. According to him, the reconsideration of
prejudices must be the first step towards the establishment of relations.

President of the YSU Students Scientific Union Erjanik Mirzoyan asked the
deputy if he has been to the Genocide Victims Museum or if he is going to
visit it. Turhan Chomez said that he is here as a guest of the Armenians and
added, `The program of my visit was made by Mr. Ozalan, and I did not find
it necessary to visit it’. The deputy qualified the Armenian Genocide as
`something very bad’. `It is impossible not to mourn the death of so many
Armenians because of the migration’, he added. And he said that `for 850
years we have lived together with the Armenians’. `And during the war with
Byzantium there were many Armenians fighting on our side’, added his
assistant.