LE FIGARO: ARMENIA READY FOR DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS

Journal of Turkish weekly
Feb 20 2007

Armenian President Kocharyan says that Yerevan is ready to establish
diplomatic ties with Turkey without preconditions and create a joint
governmental commission to discuss Armenian deaths during the First
World War, which Yerevan says was genocide.

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan rejected Turkey’s offer to set up
a joint panel of historians to debate the issue, using an interview
in the daily Le Figaro on Monday to call on Ankara to accept his
suggestion of an intergovernmental commission.

Turkey does not accept the Armenian accusations that some 1.5 million
Armenians were massacred during the disintegration of the Ottoman
Empire in World War One, arguing that Armenian deaths were part of
general partisan fighting in which both sides suffered.

The normalization of bilateral relations is the responsibility of
governments, not historians, said Kocharyan, who begans an official
visit to France on Monday. However Turkish side says that establishing
a governmental commission means establishing diplomatic ties between
two countries. Turkey cut its diplomatic ties with Armenia when
Armenian forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan.

Armenia also does not recognise Turkey’s and Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity. Armenian Constitution name eastern part of Turkey as
‘Western Armenia’. "Armenia is an accupier country and the aggressive
side, it has no right for any pre-condition" a Turkish diplomat told
the JTW.