PanARMENIAN.Net
Turks say they were absent from Armenian hearings due
to religious holiday
28.12.2007 15:14 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "The Chairman of the Standing
Committee on Foreign Relations of the National
Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, Armen Rustamian,
sent me an invitation via e-mail to attend the
parliamentary hearings organized under the heading
"Armenian-Turkish Relations: Problems and
Perspectives" held on 19-20 December. Although they do
not engender immediate results, such hearings are
essentially useful as they are conducive to aiding the
parties involved gauge each other’s viewpoints. For
this reason, I would have liked to have been able to
take part in the said discussions. Unfortunately, I
had to inform Rustamian that I would not be able to
attend due to prior engagements,’ Omer Engin Lutem,
chairman of the Eurasian Strategic Research Center
(ASAM), said in a letter to Armen Rustamian.
`As gathered from the press, 20 or so Turks were
invited to attend the hearings. Among them were
personalities such as Taner Akcam, Fatma Muge Gokcek
and Halil Berktay who fully espouse and have taken it
upon themselves to win others over to Armenian views;
people such as Orhan Pamuk and Baskin Oran who adhere
to views that fall fairly in line with the Armenian
stance; and individuals such as Can Paker who approach
the subject matter from the perspective of the
European Union. Apart from myself, in order to voice
the "Turkish standpoint", Turkish Historical Society
President Yusuf Halacoglu, and International Strategic
Research Institute Director Sedat Laciner were invited
to attend. Most likely Patriarch Mutafian was called
upon to participate in order to represent Turkey’s
Armenian community. As these hearings were organized
by the National Assembly of Armenia, it would only
have been appropriate if members of the Turkish Grand
National Assembly were invited to attend as well.
However, on this point, nothing surfaced in the
press,’ he wrote.
`All Turks invited notified how they would not be able
to attend the hearings. No doubt this is a result of
the hearings corresponding with a religious holiday
and a result of the invitations having been made so
late, and hence due to those in question having prior
engagements,’ he added.
`The importance of such hearings rests in generating
greater understanding concerning the views and
standpoints of the parties concerned. Looked at from
this perspective, it would be worthwhile if the
Turkish Grand National Assembly’s concerned
commissions were to organize a similar meeting in the
coming months," Lutem whote.
Meanwhile, Armen Rustamian said that the Turkish
government spoke out against the arrival of Turkish
scholars. `We provided a firm guarantee of security
but Ankara decided that their presence would be
inexpedient. For our part, we expressed readiness to
travel to Turkey for similar hearings dedicated to
cancellation of article 301,’ Rustamian said.