Canadian minister, Turkish MP discuss premier’s remarks about
“Armenian genocide”

Anatolia news agency, Ankara
9 Jun 06

Ottawa, 9 June: “We regretted Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s
statements about the so-called Armenian genocide,” said on Friday [9
June] Egemen B agis, an MP from Justice and Development Party (AKP)
and adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for foreign
affairs.

Bagis, who is currently in Canada to attend the Bildergberg meetings,
met Foreign Minister Peter MacKay of Canada in Ottawa.

Referring to economic and commercial relations (between the two
countries), Bagis noted that Turkey is willing to further increase
trade volume, which is currently around 1bn US dollars, with Canada.

Expressing regret over recent statements of Canadian Prime Minister
Stephen Harper, Bagis said, “Prime Minister Erdogan sent a letter to
his Canadian counterpart Harper a week before his statement. In his
letter Erdogan asked Harper not to be involved in arguments over the
Armenian issue. Harper’s accusations against Turkey caused regret in
Turkey. That statement has overshadowed our bilateral relations. We
expect Canada to take steps in order to remove that shadow.”

“We think that the issue should be resolved by Turkey and Armenia
themselves. Mr Harper’s statements will not make any contribution to
Turkey-Armenia relations,” Bagis added.

Meanwhile, MacKay said in his part that he appreciated the initiative
of Prime Minister Erdogan, who asked Armenia to form a joint committee
of historians. Noting that he would call on Armenian authorities to
respond positively to Prime Minister Erdogan’s proposal, MacKay added
that they were aware of Turkey’s sensitivity over the issue.