TURKEY CALLS ON ARMENIA TO OPEN ARCHIEVES ON 1915 INCIDENTS

Today’s Zaman
Nov 14 2008
Turkey

Turkey’s prime minister once again called on the Armenian government
to open their archives for studies on the incidents of 1915.

In 2005, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter
to then Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and proposed to establish
a joint committee of historians to study the incidents of 1915.

"Our offer is still on the table. Let’s leave it to historians,"
Erdogan told a conference in New York’s Columbia University. "We have
opened our archives and Armenians should open their archives too. We
have studied over 1 million documents so far."

Erdogan said Turkey and Armenia should abide by the final decision
of historians following these studies.

Asked about Turkish government’s reaction regarding
U.S. president-elect Barack Obama and his team’s close stance on the
Armenian allegations, Erdogan said the campaign carried out by the
Armenian diaspora in the United States was not fair.

"I hope the new U.S. administration would take into account Turkey’s
efforts. It is not fair to make a judgement upon such cheap political
lobbying," he said.

Asked whether Turkey, as the new member of the UN Security Council,
would pursue its own national policy or UN policies if a problem
about the Caucasus and the Upper Karabakh was brought to the Council,
Erdogan said Turkey would contribute to speed up efforts for settlement
of the problem.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh
Sargsian met in Moscow early November and agreed to continue to work
on a political resolution of the Upper Karabakh dispute.

Erdogan said the two leaders made a significant step and expressed
Turkey’s willingness to host the second meeting of Aliyev and Sargsian.

He said solution of the problem could lead to a new step and start
of a new process regarding relations between Turkey and Armenia.