Czech News Agency
May 28, 2008 Wednesday 9:46 PM (Central European Time)

Kubis explains Slovak govt’s view of Armenian genocide to Babacan

Bratislava May 28 (CTK)

Slovak Foreign Minister Jan Kubis today explained to his Turkish
counterpart, Ali Babacan, the Slovak government’s position on the
massacre of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire and assured him that
Bratislava does not want to politicise the issue.

The two ministers focused on it following the appreciation with which
Slovak Justice Minister Stefan Harabin’s position on the Armenian
genocide met in Armenia on Tuesday.

"I explained that the government’s position rests in the effort to
avoid politicising similar issues. I said it is up to historians, not
necessarily politicians, to assess history," Kubis told journalists
after meeting Babacan.

Ankara refuses to speak of genocide in connection with Armenians. It
says the death of about 1.5 million Armenians in 1915-17 was caused by
the war and famine.

The Slovak Justice Ministry has proposed, in its draft amendment to
the Penal Law, that the denial of any genocide, including Armenian, be
outlawed in Slovakia. At present only the denial of the Holocaust is
unlawful.

During Harabin’s ongoing visit to Yerevan, his efforts in this area
were appreciated by the head of the Armenian Church.

Kubis today said he will tell Harabin how sensitive the issue is in
Turkey.

He said he will tell Harabin that if he insisted on the planned
legislation concerning genocide, it could affect Slovak-Turkish
relations.

Babacan today said that Turkey had offered the Armenian government to
form a joint commission of experts to analyse the past events.

He said Ankara is ready to accept the result of such a debate of
scientists and come to terms with it, no matter what it is
like. However, it would not accept any accusations of Turkey, made
without reliable scientific evidence, he said.

rtj/mr