Official Ankara still hopes for establishment of a joint Armenian-Turkish
commission to investigate the Armenian Genocide of 1915

Arminfo
2007-04-14 16:25:00

With the assistance of Britain, US and Russia, official Ankara is
going to take concrete action to urge Armenia to accept the Turkish
proposal to set up a joint commission of historians that will
investigate the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

The Turkish Zaman newspaper reports that Turkish diplomats did state
that the adoption of the Armenian Genocide resolution by the US
Congress has become less likely now as the Democrats have become more
aware of the harm such a resolution could inflict on Turkish-US
relations. The author of the article recalls that in 2005 Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Erdogan expressed willingness to open the Turkish
archives for Armenian historians to find out whether "the World War I
killing of Armenians could be described as genocide". "His offer to
set up a joint commission of historians has not yet been answered
positively by Armenia, allegedly under the strong influence of the
hard-line Armenian diaspora". A Turkish government source speaking to
Today’s Zaman pointed out the reluctance of the influential states of
the world to influence the Armenian Government’s position in this
matter. "Behind this indifference might lie the concern that real and
serious evidence to support genocide allegations will not be found",
the same source stressed.

The article emphasizes that along with a possible opening of borders
with Armenia and a possible appeal to to the International Court of
Justice (ICJ), convening of the joint commission of historians is the
priority task for Ankara. Government sources told Today’s Zaman that
Turkish legal experts have currently been studying the legal aspect of
the issues as well as the February decision of the ICJ on Serbia. The
court examining the case brought by Bosnia and Herzegovina against
Serbia, in its controversial decision of Feb 26 this year, cleared
Serbia of genocide in Bosnia while acknowledging the Serbian killing
of Bosnians, at Srebrenica in particular in 1995 when over 7,000
Bosnian Muslim men and boys were massacred. "Thus, Turkish legal
experts have also been examining, among other things, whether the ICJ
decision on Serbia could bring Turkey closer to clearing it of
Armenian genocide allegations", the Zaman says.