Turkey seeks to block Knesset debate on Armenian Genocide

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12-04-2008 11:53:44 – KarabakhOpen

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.

"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.