TURKISH FM GUL WARMLY VIEWS ATTENDING ARMENIAN CONFERENCE
By Cihan News Agency, Anadolu News Agency (aa) 25 August 2005

Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
Aug 26 2005

ANKARA – Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has conveyed that
he might attend the postponed academic conference titled “Ottoman
Armenians During the Decline of the Empire”, which will be held at
the Bogazici University, Istanbul between September 23 and 25.

Gul announced he might also not be able to attend the conference
because he is envisioned to be in New York to attend the United Nations
(UN) General Assembly studies on the same dates. Gul received an
invitation to the disputed conference on Wednesday and said he viewed
such conferences as crucial opportunities to express Turkey’s theses
regarding the Armenian issue. Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson
Namik Tan said Gul might attend the “final session” of the conference
if his schedule allows. The conference, termed by Turkish Minister of
Justice Cemil Cicek as a “dagger in the back of the Turkish people”,
was previously postponed due to negative reactions. Gul, however,
noted he saw the conference as, “a crucial opportunity to express
Turkish theses and approaches both in the country and abroad. In this
respect, we, as a foreign ministry and government, will be more active
from now on,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Armenian lobby within the US Congress sent a letter
to the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calling on the US to
object to a new railroad project planned to connect Azerbaijan and
Turkey through Georgia on the grounds that it would isolate Armenia.