FINNISH PRESIDENT HALONEN REFUSES TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN ALLEGATIONS
Journal of Turkish Weekly
Sept 28 2005
Kezban TUNCOVA, YEREVAN (JTW) During her visit to Armenia on Tuesday,
Finland President Tarja Halonen found herself in the middle of
a discussion on the sensitive issue of the so-called Armenian
massacres. Armenians argue that the 1915 Relocation Decision of the
Ottoman Empire was a genocide and Turkey should admit it. However
Turkey has never accepted the allegations. Turkish historians say the
1915 Relocation Campaign was a measure to prevent Armenian attacks
against the Ottoman Army. The Armenians rioted against the Istanbul
Government in order tyo establish their own state. More than 520,000
Turkish people were massacred by the Armenian armed groups during
the First World War.
The discussion took place soon after the Finnish President had laid a
wreath at a monument to the victims of the 1915 events in the Armenian
capital Yerevan. Armenian journalists asked the Finnish President if
she would publicly recognise the 1915 events as a genocide.
Finnish President Halonen avoided a direct response to the questions,
saying instead “We are building a common future with Armenia”.
According to the President, Finland is not in the habit of giving
recognition to historical events. She said that every generation has
the right to re-examine history, and every country has a right to its
own history. She added that countries should not become prisoners of
history. Similarly Turkish prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan had called the
Armenian side to establish a joint committee to discuss the historical
disputes between Turkey and Armenia. However the Armenian FM Oskanian
rejected the offer. Turkey also says both countries should focus on
today and current problems instead of obsessively focusing on the
past. Dr. Sedat Laciner from Ankara based Turkish think-tank USAK –
ISRO (International Strategic Research Organization) said “we should
not sacrifice today for the past. Both sides made mistakes in the
past and we cannot change the history. But we can construct the
future together”.
Finnish package tours to Armenia have already begun this year.
Currently, a fifth fairly small group of Finnish tourists are in
Yerevan.
On Tuesday President Halonen held talks with Armenian President Robert
Kochharian and other politicians on trade, Armenian-Turkish relations,
the dispute over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as Turkey’s
possible membership in the European Union.
The same issues came up when Halonen, who received an honorary
doctorate, spoke to students at Yerevan State University. The Finnish
President defended Turkish EU membership, which Armenia opposes,
because of Turkey’s support for Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh
issue. She said that Turkish EU membership would benefit the whole
region, including Armenia. On the question of Nagorno-Karabakh – an
ethnically Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan – Halonen offered the
autonomous status of Finland’s Åland Islands as a model. A fiery-eyed
student responded: “Azerbaijan is not Sweden”.
Armenia has occupied almost 20 percent of Azerbaijani territories
for more than a decade and the EU and the OSCE named Armenia as
‘occupier’ in the Karabakh. Armenia also does not recognize Turkey’s
and Azerbaijan’s national borders.
Dr. Davut Sahiner from ISRO told to the JTW that Turkey’s EU membership
will be very usefull in solving the regional problems in the region:
“The old order has to be changed in the Caucasus. The economical
and political structure of the Caucaus should be integrated into the
European and Western systems. And an EU member-Turkey could play a
vital role in doing so. Armenia right now has border problems and the
irredentist Armenian groups manipulate the Armenian politics. Turkey,
Georgia, Azerbaijain and Armenia should integrate their economies.
However the Karabakh issue prevent any development. As the EU and
the US urge the Yerevan, Armenia should withdraw from the occupied
territories.”
–Boundary_(ID_YIjAZCKDOJbJwGinXZfn9Q)–