Zaman Online, Turkey
May 10 2005
Historic Rendezvous at Red Square
By Mirza Cetinkaya
The celebrations of the 60th anniversary of World War II, which were
held in the Russian capital Moscow on Monday, May 9, were the scene
of many unique meetings.
To commemorate the victory of the Russians against Nazi Germany at
the end of the World War II, more than 50 world leaders gathered for
celebrations at Red Square. One such meeting saw the hand-shake
between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Armenian
President Robert Kocharian. Erdogan conveyed Turkey’s sadness and
reproaches to the leaders of Russia and Poland for their
parliamentary decision regarding the so-called Armenian genocide
allegations. However, eyewitnesses conveyed that while listening to
Erdogan, the Russian President Vladimir Putin did not give any
response to Erdogan. In bilateral talks between Erdogan and Putin,
the relations between the two countries as well as the Azeri-Armenian
issue were discussed. Also, Erdogan made a rendezvous with US
President George W. Bush for a June meeting. Bush told Erdogan that
he expects Erdogan at the White House for a meeting and Erdogan
responded that he would be in Washington soon. The Turkish Prime
Minister announced that detailed contacts would also take place with
the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan regarding
resuming the peace talks in Cyprus. Erdogan also met with Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende,
European Union (EU) Term President Luxembourg’s Prime Minister
Jean-Claude Juncker and EU Commission President Jose Manuel Durao
Barroso during the celebrations.
It was observed that Putin and Bush were acting friendly even though
the Moscow and Washington administrations have started to reveal
their differences of opinions about the developments in the former
Soviet regions, Iran, and the Middle East along with other historic
issues. Around 7,000 Russian soldiers and 2,600 war veterans
participated in the “V-Day” ceremonies. “Today is a holy day for our
people,” said Putin and described the countries attending the
ceremonies as those who are involved in the counter-terrorism
coalition. The Russian leader sent this message during his speech,
“let’s learn our lesson from the past well and let’s be brothers.”
After the Russian fighter jets flew over Red Square, a moment of
silence was observed to commemorate those who lost their lives in the
war. After the memorial, world leaders attended a reception hosted by
Putin and his wife. Mikhael Gorbachov, Russian Orthodox Church
Patriarch Alex II, Russian Muftis Council President Ravil Gaynutdin,
and Jewish religious representatives also attended the reception. The
60th anniversary is of symbolic importance to the West. The Russian
army brought an end to World War II in which about 60 million people
were killed, the war had begun due to the rise of German Nazi
dictator, Adolf Hitler, who had plans to rule the world.