Zaman, Turkey
July 13 2005

Contacts with Armenia Continue
By Zaman
Published: Wednesday July 13, 2005
zaman.com

Since activities against Turkey have been intensified within the
frame of the 90th year of the so-called Armenian genocide, the
anticipated meeting between Turkish and Armenian leaders has not
taken place; however, mutual contacts are still continuing.

There has been no progress in the process initiated in April in a
letter by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to Armenian President
Robert Kocharian, however, diplomats from both countries are
continuing their efforts to normalize bilateral relations again. Two
diplomats from the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs have come
together with their Armenian counterparts in a European country. In
the meeting, the Turkish party has once again presented their
proposals for normalization. These proposals are reportedly being
evaluated by the Yerevan administration. Namik Tan, a Turkish Foreign
Ministry spokesperson, replied to a question regarding the talks by
pointing out that contacts with the Armenian party occur at various
levels, between the foreign ministers in particular, have long been
taking place on international and other platforms. ”Regional matters
concerning both countries are being handled in these contacts.”
Ankara wants relations to return to normal by asking Yerevan to quit
its allegations of genocide, to remove expressions in the
Constitution condemning Turkey and to withdraw from the Upper Karabag
(Karabakh), a region it has been occupying. Turkey had previously
made the decision of not writing a new letter upon Kocharian’s
attitude in his reply to Erdogan.