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Armenia repeats readiness to open ties with Turkey without preconditions
By AVET DEMOURIAN
AP Worldstream
May 03, 2005
Armenia said Tuesday it was ready to establish political ties with
Turkey without any preconditions, amid nascent efforts by the two
countries to end lingering bilateral tensions.
Turkish press reported that Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan and Armenian President Robert Kocharian may meet during May
9 Victory Day celebrations in Moscow or at a Council of Europe summit
scheduled for May 15-16 in Warsaw.
The newspaper Ramzan cited unnamed diplomatic sources in the story,
posted on its Web site. Officials from Erdogan's office were not
immediately available to comment, and a Turkish Foreign Ministry
official said he had no information on any such meeting.
Efforts to open diplomatic ties between the two countries have gained
new energy recently as a growing number of Turks begin to openly
discuss the issue of the mass killings of Armenians that began in 1915.
Armenians say some 1.5 million were killed in a campaign of genocide
by the Ottoman Empire authorities. Turkey says the death count is
inflated, and that the Armenians were killed or displaced in the
civil unrest during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
Erdogan has said Turkey might establish political ties if Armenia
agreed to set up a joint commission to investigate the killings.
Presidential spokesman Viktor Sogomonyan said Tuesday that Armenia
is ready to re-establish relations with Ankara, but "without any
preconditions." He again repeated Armenia's position that the ties
should not be contingent with the creation of a joint commission.
Armenia says there is no reason to investigate the killings because
it considers the genocide a historic fact.
More and more Turks are beginning to openly question official versions
of history. Turkey's ambition of joining the European Union is fueling
the examination as is Turkish civil society, which has become more
open and democratic in recent years.
By AVET DEMOURIAN
AP Worldstream
May 03, 2005
Armenia said Tuesday it was ready to establish political ties with
Turkey without any preconditions, amid nascent efforts by the two
countries to end lingering bilateral tensions.
Turkish press reported that Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan and Armenian President Robert Kocharian may meet during May
9 Victory Day celebrations in Moscow or at a Council of Europe summit
scheduled for May 15-16 in Warsaw.
The newspaper Ramzan cited unnamed diplomatic sources in the story,
posted on its Web site. Officials from Erdogan's office were not
immediately available to comment, and a Turkish Foreign Ministry
official said he had no information on any such meeting.
Efforts to open diplomatic ties between the two countries have gained
new energy recently as a growing number of Turks begin to openly
discuss the issue of the mass killings of Armenians that began in 1915.
Armenians say some 1.5 million were killed in a campaign of genocide
by the Ottoman Empire authorities. Turkey says the death count is
inflated, and that the Armenians were killed or displaced in the
civil unrest during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
Erdogan has said Turkey might establish political ties if Armenia
agreed to set up a joint commission to investigate the killings.
Presidential spokesman Viktor Sogomonyan said Tuesday that Armenia
is ready to re-establish relations with Ankara, but "without any
preconditions." He again repeated Armenia's position that the ties
should not be contingent with the creation of a joint commission.
Armenia says there is no reason to investigate the killings because
it considers the genocide a historic fact.
More and more Turks are beginning to openly question official versions
of history. Turkey's ambition of joining the European Union is fueling
the examination as is Turkish civil society, which has become more
open and democratic in recent years.