ASSESSMENT OF THE HISTORY IN THE PARLIAMENTS IS UNFAVORABLE FOR ARMENIA AS WELL – TURKISH PM

Journal of Turkish Weekly
April 13 2010

Assessment of the history in the parliaments of countries is
unfavorable for Armenia as well, said Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan at the George Mason University in Washington on Monday,
where he arrived after a meeting with his Armenian counterpart Serj
Sargsyan.

"We reject the accusations of genocide in relation to the events of
1915 and reject the unfair and unilateral decision of parliaments. We
believe that the history should be studied and evaluated by historians,
but not parliaments. We have indicated willingness to open our archives
and urged other countries to do the same," said Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

After the meeting with Turkish Prime Minister, Serj Sargsyan met
with the representatives of the Armenian community in America,
Mediamax reported.

"Our position was and remains the same: Turkey can not speak with
Armenia and Armenians in the language of preconditions, simply we
will not allow it," said Sargsyan.

He said that Armenia is not going to discuss in any format the fact
of so-called "genocide" or pretend to believe as though Turkey may
have some positive role in the negotiation process on Nagorno-Karabakh
settlement.

The meeting between the sides continued for one and a half hours,
CNN Turk website reported.

The Russian service of TRT reported that one of the important topics
of the meeting was the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
for which the Turkish Prime Minister expressed his point of view.

Any statement was not made at the conclusion of the meeting. Sources
from Turkish Foreign Ministry reported that it is expected that
both countries mutually reaffirm their commitment to the process of
normalization of relations between Ankara and Yerevan, TRT reported.

The meeting which was the first one after the Davos forum in 2008
was held during the Summit on Nuclear Safety, organized by the White
House. The two leaders met at the Congress Center in Washington.

The meeting was also attended by the Foreign Ministers of Turkey Ahmet
Davutoglu and Armenia Edward Nalbandian, Advisor of Foreign Ministry
of Turkey Firudin Sinirlioglu and Assistant Secretary of the Armenian
President Vigen Sargsyan.