TURKEY DISCUSSES RELATIONS NORMALIZATION WITH ARMENIA

Reporter, Greece
June 1 2006

11:46 – 01 June 2006 – Turkish and Armenian officials have been
discussing normalizing relations, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said
Wednesday, despite the fact that Armenians accuse Turks of genocide and
the two countries have no diplomatic ties. “A negotiation process has
started between the two countries to seek a common ground,” Foreign
Ministry Spokesman Namik Tan said. “Three rounds of talks were held
so far.”

The talks have apparently led to no breakthroughs, but that the two
countries are even talking might be considered one in itself.

Several informal earlier attempts at dialogue faltered amid disputes
between Turks and Armenians over the massacres of Armenians at the
time of World War I. Armenians say that Ottoman Turks slaughtered
1.5 million Armenians in a planned genocide and have demanded that
Turkey recognize the killings as such.

Turkey vehemently denies that the mass killings were genocide, saying
the death toll is inflated and Armenians were killed in civil unrest
as the Ottoman Empire collapsed.

The talks between Turkish and Armenian foreign ministry officials
started after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a
letter to Armenian Prime Minister Robert Kocharian asking for the
two countries to open a joint historical investigation to research
the killings, Tan said.

Kocharian wrote back, leading to a series of talks, he said. Tan said
the talks would continue, but would provide no substantive details.

He requested that Armenia adopt a more flexible and constructive
approach to regional problems, saying, “Turkey is intending to pursue
efforts to normalize relations with Armenia.”