CALMY-REY: ARMENIA AND TURKEY SHOULD RESOLVE DISAGREEMENTS TO FACILITATE NORMALIZATION PROCESS

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.03.2010 21:37 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian and Turkish officials should come together
and resolve their disagreements to facilitate the ongoing normalization
process between the two countries, Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline
Calmy-Rey said on Tuesday.

The minister spoke after Mario Fehr, a Social Democratic member
of the Swiss National Council, submitted a motion to the federal
government on Monday asking whether the recent conviction of three
Turkish citizens by a Swiss court for denying the Armenian Genocide
would have any particular impact on the federal government’s approach
toward the Armenian massacres of 1915 in Ottoman Empire.

Switzerland mediated closed-door talks between Armenia and Turkey
for over a year on ways to restore diplomatic relations and open
their mutual border before the two parties announced on April 22,
2009, that they had reached an agreement on a road map to normalize
their relations.

Calmy-Rey, in her answer to Fehr’s motion, first noted that the federal
government was not in a position to comment on legal decisions in
line with the principle of separation of powers. Recalling an earlier
statement on the issue dated March 13, 2009, Calmy-Rey reiterated,
"The federal government had stated that Armenia and Turkey should be
encouraged to discuss these historical issues in a constructive manner
that would also facilitate the ongoing rapprochement between the two
countries." She added, "The federal government notes with pleasure
that the two countries signed two protocols aimed at the normalization
of these two countries’ relations on Oct. 10, 2009, in Zurich."

Ankara-based sources told the Anatolia news agency that Calmy-Rey’s
answer is meant to emphasize that Armenian massacres of 1915 in
Ottoman Empire should be dealt with in line with the protocols,
which contain an agreement to establish a historical commission to
look at the 1915 events.