TURKEY SEEKS TO BLOCK KNESSET DEBATE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent

Ha’aretz
en/spages/974037.html
April 11 2008
Israel

The chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in the
Turkish parliament, Hasan Murat Mercan, has asked the Prime Minister’s
Bureau to cancel a scheduled discussion in the Knesset on the Armenian
genocide.

Mercan was in Israel this week at the head of a Turkish parliamentary
delegation for talks with their Israeli counterparts.

Talks included discussions on Iran, the Palestinians and Syria, but
the main issue the Turkish delegation raised was an upcoming Knesset
debate on the Armenian genocide.

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"The Armenian issue is very sensitive for Turkey," the visitors told
Yoram Turbowicz and Shalom Turgeman, two of Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert’s most senior aides, adding that, "We would prefer if this
discussion would not take place at this time in the Israeli parliament
because it may harm the relations between the two countries."

Turbowicz offered Israel’s official response, that the issue needed
to be resolved between Turkey and Armenia in a professional manner,
through the involvement of historians.

"Israel certainly recognizes the strategic importance of its relations
with Turkey, but there are subjects and parliamentary initiatives
that are not related to the government," Turbowicz said.

"As a government, we have no interest in undermining our ties with
Turkey."

"I am convinced that Israel recognizes the negative implications this
may have on ties between the two countries," Mercan said.