TURKEY WARNS ISRAEL AGAINST ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DISCUSSION
PanARMENIAN.Net
10.04.2008 17:10 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Official Ankara opposes discussions of the Armenian
Genocide in Israeli parliament, as it can harm the Turkey-Israel
relations.
"The issue is very delicate for the Turkish public. We wouldn’t like
discussions in the Israeli parliament," said Murat Mercan, Chairman
of Foreign Affairs Committee of the Turkish parliament.
On 26 March, the Knesset decided to bring the Armenian Genocide issue
into discussion in one of parliamentary committees. Zeev Elkin of
Kadima offered to debate in the committee on education and culture
while Joseph Shagal insisted on discussions in committee on external
affairs and defense.
"The position of Israeli political establishment satisfies Ankara to
a sufficient degree," said Mercan.
"We met with Israeli President, speaker of Knesset, Premier and foreign
minister. In all these meetings our delegation showed understanding
toward the position of the Israeli government on this issue. We thank
the Israeli government for their clear and reasonable approach to
this problem."
"Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has already proposed
the Armenian government to set up international committee to study
the events of the early 20th century. We simply explained some Israeli
politicians that there is no need to write a history based on political
bias which can harm strategic partnership between Israel and Turkey,"
he said, Trend Azeri news agency reports.