Armenian historians not to attend genocide issue meeting with Turks
Anatolia news agency, Ankara
28 Feb 05
Vienna, 28 February: Armenian historians will not attend the meeting
to be held in Austrian capital of Vienna in May in which they will
exchange documents with Turkish historians regarding the so-called
Armenian genocide, the Vienna Armenian-Turkish Platform (VAT) said
on Monday [28 February].
VAT, acting as a mediator between Turkish and Armenian historians
who are willing to exchange documents, stated that Prof Dr Lavrentiy
Barseghian, the director of Yerevan genocide museum, and Prof Dr Ashot
Melkonian, the director of the History Department of the Armenian
Academy of Sciences, notified them in writing that they would not
attend the second meeting planned to be held in May.
Pointing out that the main target of the Armenian diaspora in 2005
is to make several countries “accept the 1915 incidents as genocide”,
VAT-member historians stress that Turkey has proved that it is ready
for dialogue and will take action for a possible solution.
VAT historians added: “As VAT, we expect the international community,
particularly Armenia and Turkey, to deal with this matter more
seriously and systematically. And, we believe that both parties
will establish dialogue with each other under equal circumstances,
and take VAT concept as a model.” [Passage omitted]