TURKEY: GOVERNMENT DISCLOSES PLAN TO TAKE ARMENIAN ISSUE TO COURT
Milliyet, Turkey
Nov 15 2006
BODY:
[Report by Utku Cakirozer: "Armenian Initiative"]
Turkey is preparing for a great surprise in its Armenian policy.
Foreign Minister [Abdullah] Gul, declaring that [the government] may
take the genocide claims to an international court, has said: "The
accusation will be the most important problem in the decade ahead."
It has emerged that, following its proposal, in the face of the
Armenian genocide claims, for the establishment of a historical
commission, to be composed of international historians, Turkey is
preparing to take yet another very significant initiative.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has announced that they may take the
genocide allegations before an international court.
CHP [opposition Republican People’s Party] Istanbul Parliamentary
Deputy Sukru Elekdag, who spoke during yesterday’s discussion of the
Foreign Ministry budget in the TBMM [Turkish Grand National Assembly]
Planning and Budget Committee session, proposed that Turkey take
recourse to the method of "international arbitration" in order to
prevent the Armenians’ claims from gaining legitimacy. Elekdag spoke
as follows:
"Will Show We Are in the Right"
"Turkey should announce that it will accept the incidents of 1915
being assessed in accord with the provisions of the UN Convention
on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and for
this purpose should propose referring the matter to international
arbitration. The Armenians will reject this, but this announcement
will be an indication of Turkey’s being in the right morally and
legally, and will in large measure limit the issue’s being exploited
politically against Turkey."
Gul as well, noting that he ascribes very great importance to
Elekdag’s viewpoint and support, said: "I see the danger of these
Armenian accusations and distortions harming our relations with third
countries as one of the most important problems of the next decade."
Pointing out that Turkey has been engaged in a sincere effort for the
historical reality to emerge, and by changing the parameters for the
first time and taking a new initiative, has made the proposal for a
joint historical commission, Gul said: "A good many countries have
supported this thesis of ours. We are also engaging in careful work
aimed at taking other steps as well. We are considering everything,
including taking the judicial route. We are getting opinions not just
from our own legal experts, but from legal experts abroad as well."