HELSINGIN SANOMAT
INTERNATIONAL EDITION – FOREIGN
Sept 28,2005
Halonen in Armenia asked for recognition of Turkish massacre
President avoids question by focusing on future
During her visit to Armenia on Tuesday, President Tarja Halonen found
herself in the middle of a debate on the sensitive issue of the Turkish
massacre of more than a million Armenians during the First World War and
shortly thereafter.
The discussion took place soon after the Finnish President had laid a
wreath at a monument to the victims of the genocide in the Armenian capital
Yerevan.
Armenian journalists asked the Finnish President if she would publicly
recognise the events as an act of genocide. A number of countries, including
France, have already done so.
Turkey has refused to admit that genocide had taken place, and this
refusal is one factor which has helped inflame relations between Armenia and
Turkey; their border is closed off, and there are no diplomatic ties between
the two countries.
President Halonen avoided a direct response to the questions, saying instead
“We are building a common future with Armenia”.
According to the President, Finland is not in the habit of giving
recognition to historical events. She said that every generation has the
right to re-examine history, and every country has a right to its own
history. She added that countries should not become prisoners of history.
The laying of the wreath at the monument could be seen as a
recognition of sorts. However, many other state visitors to Armenia do the
same.
The protocol also calls for the planting of a tree at the memorial.
Halonen’s silver fir went up near trees planted by Vladimir Putin and Lech
Walesa.
“Where’s the minister?” Halonen asked in the middle of the tree-planting
ceremony, calling on the Minister of Trade and Industry Mauri Pekkarinen to
grab the shovel and start digging.
Earlier during the trip Pekkarinen had complained that he had little
to do in the President’s entourage. On Tuesday there was no such problem,
because Halonen kept him busy all day.
For instance, in the middle of a press conference of the Finnish and
Armenian leaders, Halonen unexpectedly asked Pekkarinen to brief the
journalists on prospects for economic cooperation between the two countries.
Two sectors seen by Pekkarinen as worthy of development were mining
and tourism.
Finnish package tours to Armenia have already begun this year. Currently, a
fifth fairly small group of Finnish tourists are in Yerevan.
On Tuesday, President Halonen held talks with Armenian President
Robert Kochharian and other politicians on trade, Armenian-Turkish
relations, the dispute over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as over
Turkey’s possible membership in the European Union.
The same issues came up when Halonen, who received an honorary
doctorate, spoke to students at Yerevan State University.
The Finnish President defended Turkish EU membership, which Armenia
opposes, because of Turkey’s support for Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh
issue. She said that Turkish EU membership would benefit the whole region,
including Armenia.
On the question of Nagorno-Karabakh – an ethnically Armenian enclave
inside Azerbaijan – Halonen offered the autonomous status of Finland’s Åland
Islands as a model. A fiery-eyed student responded: “Azerbaijan is not
Sweden”.