Agos Weekly, Istanbul
Dec 31 2009

Same Refrain from ErdoÄ?an

US President Barack Obama held a joint press conference following
talks with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip ErdoÄ?an during his official
visit to the USA. Both leaders declared at the press conference that
they have evaluated the issues on Afghanistan, the fight against
terrorism, Iraq, NATO and the new missile defense system, ties between
Turkey and Armenia, the situation of minorities in Turkey and the
economy.

In his speech at the conference President Obama emphasized the
importance of normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia
and the importance of Turkey’s `democratic initiative’ process. Obama
expressed his administration’s willingness to give any support for
reopening the Greek Orthodox Halki Seminary. Turkey could help by
working to persuade Iran in resolving the issue of its nuclear
capacity, said Obama. ErdoÄ?an agreed that Turkey could perform the
task of mediator and serve as a corridor.

Reminding ErdoÄ?an of Incidents Related to 1915

During his speech at Johns Hopkins University, ErdoÄ?an was asked to
evaluate Obama’s statement about his perspective on the incidents of
1915, which hasn’t changed. ErdoÄ?an reminded the audience of his
suggestion, about which he had written in his letter to Armenian
President, that a joint history commission should be established and
archives should be opened up. `With lobbying activities, by merely
saying `I think so’ nothing can be achieved. My ancestors did not
commit genocide, they do not.’ said ErdoÄ?an. He highlighted that there
was absolutely clear evidence of deportation; the government then had
taken security precautions during the deportation and that he himself
has seen the mentioned evidence. ErdoÄ?an claimed that it was
impossible to understand which evidence the issue of genocide was
based on. As the question arose as to whether the existence of article
301 hindered the foundation of a joint history commission, ErdoÄ?an
answered, `I think that the one who asks this question has no idea of
what article 301 is about. The content of the crime related to 301 is
at the disposal of the Turkish Ministry of Justice and with the
Ministry’s permission the case may be brought to court. To date, eight
people have been taken to court.’

Armenians in Turkey are on the Agenda Again

ErdoÄ?an expected the Minsk group to attach greater importance to the
process of resolving the issues on Nagorno-Karabakh. ErdoÄ?an argued
that under that condition the Azerbaijan-Armenia issue could be solved
and progress could be made towards the normalization process of the
ties between Turkey and Armenia.

ErdoÄ?an claimed that they were making sincere efforts to normalize
relations between Turkey and Armenia. On this occasion he once again
noted the presence of Armenian citizens of Turkey and Armenians coming
from Armenia. ErdoÄ?an highlighted the fact that 170,000 Armenians were
living in Turkey and not all of them were citizens. `We do not send
them back. Living conditions in Armenia are not good; they want to
live in our country. There are nearly 70,000 citizens. There are
persons among them who are members of my party,’ added ErdoÄ?an.

ErdoÄ?an mentioned the restoration of the Armenian Church of the Holy
Cross on Akhtamar Island in Lake Van. He said that he wished for the
Armenian diaspora’s `false approach’ to get better. The Armenian
Church of the Holy Cross on Akhtamar Island was restored in 2004 and
was turned into a museum; placing a cross on top of the dome following
the original model of the ancient church was not permitted.

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