The New Anatolian, Turkey
Feb 22 2007

Kocharian: Turkey still threat to Armenians

The New Anatolian / Ankara
22 February 2007

Armenian President Robert Kocharian yesterday said that Armenia
continues to be under threat by having Turkey as a neighbor, speaking
at a meeting in Paris with Armenian community groups.

Kocharian said that the failure of Turkey to recognize the Armenian
genocide claims was "not only an ethical problem, but poses a
national security problem for Armenia."

"We have the same neighbor now that refuses to accept its guilt in
1915. There is a risk that what happened before could happen again,"
Kocharian said, in Paris for the official start of France’s Armenia
Year, which will involve a variety of social and cultural activities.

Kocharian last week renewed his offer to establish diplomatic ties
with Turkey and proposed setting up a joint government commission to
discuss sensitive issues, rather than discussing the issue on an
academic basis.

Meanwhile, for the first time an Armenian historian has agreed to
take part in a joint group to explore the disputed events at the end
of World War I. Ara Sarafian, a major historian of the Armenian
diaspora, accepted the offer of Turkish Historical Foundation (TTK)
head Yusuf Halacoglu.

"I accept Halacoglu’s offer to do joint research on the Armenian
killings without preconditions," said Sarafian, suggesting the work
start with Harput Plain as a case study.

"Ottoman records about the Harput relocations should be presented by
Turkey," he said. "I will also present different records. As a
result, more detailed joint research should be possible."

Halacoglu called Sarafyan’s move a very important step, adding, "This
is the first acceptance from Armenians without preconditions."

Sarafyan also worked on an edition of the disputed "Blue Book," a
1916 British publication arguing for the genocide claims.

In related news, a Parliament committee to fight the so-called
Armenian genocide resolution, attending the Parliamentary Assembly of
NATO in Belgium, issued a warning to members of the U.S. House of
Representatives over recent developments on the resolution.

Vahit Erdem, the head of the Turkish committee, wrote a letter to
U.S. congressmen, stating that relations between Turkey and the U.S.
need to be maintained in the post-Cold War era, underlining that the
Turkish-American friendship and relations are very important for both
countries.

"If the Armenian resolution is passed by the U.S. Congress, relations
between the two allies would be deeply hurt, and U.S. Congress would
fall into error, making a political judgment rather than a historical
one."

Turkey denies the allegations that some 1.5 million Armenians were
massacred during the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in World
War I, arguing that Armenian deaths were part of general partisan
fighting in which both sides suffered.

Ankara and Yerevan are at odds over the Armenian claims of genocide.
To break the deadlock, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
last year suggested the establishment of a committee of Turkish and
Armenian historians to study the claims, in a letter sent to Armenian
President Robert Kocharian. But Kocharian rejected Erdogan’s
proposal, saying that the two countries must first establish
diplomatic relations and that committees could be formed only within
the process of normalization of relations.