Journal of Turkish Daily
April 15 2005
Turkey Repeats Dialogue Call to Armenia
Jan SOYKOK, ANKARA (JTW) Turkish Prime Minister repeated Turkey’s
dialogue call to Armenia. Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan wrote a letter to
Armenian President Robert Kocherian. Erdogan used `memories which
hurt’ words for the 1915 events. In 1915, many Turks and Armenians
were killed in the communal clashes and war circumstances. Erdogan
said in his letter `a joint commission should be established to
discuss all historical disputes. This will serve to normalize our
relations’. The letter was handled by Turkey’s Tbilisi Embassy to
Yerevan. `Turkey and Armenia interpret the past in different ways’
Erdogan added. Erdogan continued in the letter:
`Turkish and Armenian peoples not only shared a common history and
geography in one of the most volatile regions of the world, but also
lived together for a very long time. However it is not a secret that
there are differences in interpretation some parts of the past
between two nations. These memories gave sorrow to our peoples in the
past, and now still play a role which does not help to develop
friendly relations between us.”
“As the leaders of our countries, our foremost duty to the next
generations is to leave a peaceful and friendly environment. All
these ideas are shared by the main Turkish opposition party leader
Mr. Deniz Baykal as well. In this framework, we kindly call you to
establish a joint group including Turkish and Armenian historians and
other experts to research the 1915 events by using not only the
Turkish and Armenian documents but also all archives in the third
countries, and to declare all the findings to international
community. I think, such an initiative will shed light on a
disputable part of the past and also will serve to normalization
relations between our countries.”
“I hope that, our offer aiming to leave a more friendly and peaceful
environment will be welcomed. We are ready to discuss the details
when you accept our offer to set up a joint historian and other
experts group to make researches in archives. Regards.’ (JTW’s Note:
This is not an offical transilation)
ARMENIAN FM OSKANIAN: TURKEY TRIES TO RECONSIDER HISTORY WITHOUT ANY
SHAME
Despite all dialogue calls from Ankara, Armenian Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian uses very strong and even aggressive language towards
Turkish politicians. “Turkey not only tries to reconsider its history
without any shame but also wants to force other countries do the
same,” said Oskanian on 13 April 2005 press conference. Oskanian had
rejected Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s call to establish a joint
commission to discuss the historical disputes.
Mr. Oskanian claims that the recognition of the `genocide’
allegations is an issue of security for Armenia. “We can’t feel
secure near a neighbor that exceeds in the military aspect and
definitely supports Azerbaijan in the Nagorno Karabakh issue,”
Armenian Foreign Minister said.
Turkish Republic never attacked or threatened Armenia since the
beginning, while Armenia occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijani
territories and has threatened Turkey to occupy the eastern parts of
Turkey. The First Armenian Republic attacked the Turkish forces, yet
failed to advance. Under the Soviet rule, the Armenians demanded some
of the Turkish towns. However when Turkey entered NATO, the USSR
could not make more pressure on Turkey. Armenia gained its
independence after the USSR collapsed. However the Armenians
continued to their irredentist demands, and named Turkey’s eastern
provinces `Western Armenia’. Armenian forces not only attacked the
Karabakh and other Azerbaijani cities, but also to Naxcivan province
of Azerbaijan. Armenia also encourages the separatist Armenian
movements in Georgia.
Dr. Nilgun Gulcan from ISRO find Oskanian’s security concerns
baseless: `Armenia attacks almost all neighbors and perceives
security threats.’
ARMENIA TRIES TO BLACKMAIL TURKEY
Mr. Oskanian further said “Turkey wants to be a member of an
organization that is built on the bases of the human rights
protection. When Turkey wants to become an EU member country, the
genocide issue becomes of European, human importance.”
However Dr. Gulcan says Armenia abuses Turkey’s EU bid:
`Armenia tries to blackmail Turkey in EU case. Armenia has occupied
20 percent territories of a European country, Azerbaijan. The EU
named Armenia occupier and aggressive. Despite all these Armenia can
blackmail Turkey. I think there are anti-Turkish and anti-Muslim
biases in the EU institutions. They are discriminative. The EU
Parliament for instance calls Turkey to improve its relations with
Armenia, yet says nothing to Armenia about occupation. The EP makes
pressures on Turkey to open territorial borders with Armenia, however
they have done nothing to lift embargo and isolation on Turkish
Cypriots. Turkish Cypriots cannot make business with any country
except Turkey. If you want justice you must be fair. Armenia is
occupier and aggressive country in the region. They threaten Turkey,
Azerbaijan and Georgia, and they can say that Armenia perceives
threats. `
According to Dr. Nilgun Gulcan, Armenia’s aim is not to establish a
dialogue, but to damage Turkish interests. Gulcan says Armenians are
not sincere in `genocide claims’: `They started to use `genocide’
term in 1965. Before that year they never used the term. After the
First World War they applied to the Allies to join the Lausanne
negotiations claiming that they were a part in the wars against the
Ottoman Empire. They confessed many time that they joined the Allies
against the Ottoman Armies. And now they can claim with no shame that
the Ottoman Government committed genocide against Armenians. They do
not question what Armenian militants did in Khojally in Karabakh War.
They do not speak about the Khojally genocide just committed 10 years
ago, but accuse the Turks for the events happened almost a century
ago. This is a political war. The allegations are baseless.’
JTW
15 April 2005