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TURKEY: ARMENIA TIES COULD END GENOCIDE RESOLUTIONS
The Associated Press
September 10, 2008
ANKARA, Turkey: If Turkey and Armenia forge diplomatic ties and are
seen to have good relations, other countries could well stop passing
resolutions that accuse Ottoman Turks of genocide against their
Armenian population during World War I, Turkey's foreign minister
said Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said in a television interview that after
the Turkish president's breakthrough visit to Armenia on Saturday,
the two countries had stepped up efforts to resolve their differences.
Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed in
1915-18 in Ottoman Turkey in what is widely regarded as the first
genocide of the 20th Century. About 20 parliaments have passed
resolutions to this effect.
Turkey denies any genocide, saying the death toll has been inflated
and the dead were victims of civil war and unrest.
Turkey lobbies vigorously whenever a legislature handles a bill
that describes the mass killings as an act of genocide. Last year
President George W. Bush narrowly prevented the passage of a nonbinding
resolution to that effect in the U.S. Congress. He warned lawmakers
that it would imperil Turkey's logistic support for U.S. military
operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in protest over its
support for Armenians fighting for the secession of Nagorno-Karabakh
from Azerbaijan, a Turkish ally. In addition, Armenian nationalists
claim the Mount Ararat region of Turkey as western Armenia. But the
most contested problem is the massacre of Armenians in the final
years of the Ottoman Empire.
"If we manage to make rapid progress in our initiative to solve the
problems," Babacan told the local channel NTV, "then there will be no
need for third country parliaments to discuss these issues. We can
tell them: 'Mind your own business. Armenia and Turkey are getting
along well.'"
He declined to say which problem the two governments would tackle
first, saying all the issues must be laid on the table.
Armenia "has a solution-focussed position," Babacan said. "There is
a political will on both sides for a solution."
He added he might take part in a tripartite meeting with the
Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers on the sidelines of the
upcoming U.N. General Assembly in New York.
Turkey's closure of its border with landlocked Armenia is known to
have hurt the smaller country's economy. But Babacan said Turkey
and Armenia were still conducting trade worth US$500 million a year,
with the goods traveling through Georgia.
The Associated Press
September 10, 2008
ANKARA, Turkey: If Turkey and Armenia forge diplomatic ties and are
seen to have good relations, other countries could well stop passing
resolutions that accuse Ottoman Turks of genocide against their
Armenian population during World War I, Turkey's foreign minister
said Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said in a television interview that after
the Turkish president's breakthrough visit to Armenia on Saturday,
the two countries had stepped up efforts to resolve their differences.
Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed in
1915-18 in Ottoman Turkey in what is widely regarded as the first
genocide of the 20th Century. About 20 parliaments have passed
resolutions to this effect.
Turkey denies any genocide, saying the death toll has been inflated
and the dead were victims of civil war and unrest.
Turkey lobbies vigorously whenever a legislature handles a bill
that describes the mass killings as an act of genocide. Last year
President George W. Bush narrowly prevented the passage of a nonbinding
resolution to that effect in the U.S. Congress. He warned lawmakers
that it would imperil Turkey's logistic support for U.S. military
operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in protest over its
support for Armenians fighting for the secession of Nagorno-Karabakh
from Azerbaijan, a Turkish ally. In addition, Armenian nationalists
claim the Mount Ararat region of Turkey as western Armenia. But the
most contested problem is the massacre of Armenians in the final
years of the Ottoman Empire.
"If we manage to make rapid progress in our initiative to solve the
problems," Babacan told the local channel NTV, "then there will be no
need for third country parliaments to discuss these issues. We can
tell them: 'Mind your own business. Armenia and Turkey are getting
along well.'"
He declined to say which problem the two governments would tackle
first, saying all the issues must be laid on the table.
Armenia "has a solution-focussed position," Babacan said. "There is
a political will on both sides for a solution."
He added he might take part in a tripartite meeting with the
Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers on the sidelines of the
upcoming U.N. General Assembly in New York.
Turkey's closure of its border with landlocked Armenia is known to
have hurt the smaller country's economy. But Babacan said Turkey
and Armenia were still conducting trade worth US$500 million a year,
with the goods traveling through Georgia.