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ANKARA: Turkey takes concrete steps towards peace with Armenia

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  • ANKARA: Turkey takes concrete steps towards peace with Armenia

    Journal of Turkish Weekly
    April 14 2005

    Turkey takes concrete steps towards peace with Armenia

    Source: Hurriyet
    14 April 2005

    The Turkish government issued a declaration, Wednesday, calling for
    the cooperation from the Armenian government over the so-called
    genocide. The declaration states that only by working together will
    Turkey and Armenia eradicate hate that could be left behind for
    future generations on both sides.

    It is seen as a move to finally seek some clarity and closure on the
    issue of the so-called genocide. An extract from the declaration
    states: " Unless Turkey and Armenia look at the history from the same
    perspective, they will only leave prejudices, enmity and revenge to
    their children and forthcoming generations. What is reasonable for
    Turkey and Armenia is to end taboos with a joint initiative, clarify
    all sides of what they had experienced, and be ready to settle old
    scores with their history. This is the only way to prevent the past
    from darkening today and future."

    The declaration calls for the Armenian government to adopt the
    procedures laid out in the declaration in order to get the initiative
    underway stating that: "If Armenia wants to establish good neighborly
    relations with Turkey and enhance its cooperation, it should not
    hesitate to adopt Turkey's proposal to re-assess their common
    history. Also, the parliament would like to stress that every
    good-willed country and statesman that wants to contribute to world
    peace and stability, should consider Turkey's proposal as positive,
    leaving aside his/her/its internal political views. In this context,
    countries which want betterment of Turkish-Armenian relations and
    settlement of peace and stability in the Caucasus should support this
    initiative, and refrain from acts which will harm this initiative."

    Turkey is calling for the establishment of a legitimate commission to
    investigate the claims: "This proposal envisages Turkey and Armenia
    to form a common commission comprised of their own historians, search
    their national archives without limitations, make public the results
    of their searches, and set the working methods of the commission."

    The document also stated that the claims should not be used for
    political gain and that history should be based on a fair historical
    assesment on both sides.
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