THE GENOCIDE, HRANT DINK’S MURDER AND ARMENIA-TURKEY RELATIONS

AZG Armenian Daily
20/02/2007

It is always hard for an empire to ask forgiveness, especially,
when the matter concerns an eastern empire, Armenian President
Robert Kocharian said in his interview with the French Le Figaro
newspaper, answering the question about possible improvement of
Armenian-Turkish relations after the murder of Hrant Dink, the editor
of the Istanbul-based "Agos" newspaper.

In Mr. Kocharian’s opinion, this murder won’t have any impact,
as the problem is much deeper and dates back to the history of the
Turkish nation.

Being asked why Armenia has turned down the Turkish initiative to set
up a committee of historians for studying the Genocide, the President
of Armenia stressed that it is the governments and not historians
who are to normalize the bilateral relations.

Therefore, Armenia is ready is establish diplomatic relations with
Turkey without any preconditions, to set up an intergovernmental
committee, and to discuss all the issues, including painful ones,
the President noted. He added that many countries have historical
and territorial differences on the European continent; however,
they have open borders, normal relations, and discuss the existing
problems. In fact, the trouble is that the authorities of Ankara turn
down the idea of creating an intergovernmental committee to solve
all the mutual problems, R. Kocharian noted.