TURKEY: ARMENIAN PATRIARCH SAYS GENOCIDE BILL MIGHT HARM DIALOGUE

Anatolia News Agency
March 22 2007

Kayseri, 22 March: The resolution on (so-called) Armenian genocide
submitted to the US Congress will be no use to anybody, said Mesrob
II, patriarch of Turkish Armenians.

Speaking to Anatolia correspondent today, Mesrob II noted, "I don’t
find reasonable any move that will have a negative impact on the
dialogue process which could not even be launched between the two
nations."

Letter to prime minister regarding Akdamar Church

Stating that he wrote letters to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan and Culture and Tourism Minister Atilla Koc regarding the
Akdamar Church in eastern Anatolian region, Mesrob II suggested that
a festival should be held there every September.

Mesrob II stated that Turkish-Armenian relations will certainly be
normalized one day and argued that an Armenology Institute, to be
opened in Istanbul, can boost relations.