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TURKEY TO 'THAW' RELATIONS WITH ARMENIA OVER GENOCIDE ISSUE
ANSA Med, Italy
Dec 13 2013
FM calls 1915 deportations an 'inhumane' act
(ANSAmed) - ANKARA - After the tensions and repeated crises of
the past two years with its neighbors Iraq, Iran, and Russia as a
result of the Syrian conflict, Turkey is now trying to conduct more
conciliatory regional foreign policy in its relations with Armenia.
Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who visited Yerevan Thursday
for the first time since 2009 - when the two countries made an
initial, failed attempt at normalizing relations - made a significant
gesture on the still highly sensitive issue of the 1915-17 Armenian
genocide. The Turkish minister admitted that the deportations of
hundreds of thousands of Armenians in the Turkey of those times,
in the last years of the Ottoman empire, were an "inhumane act"
as well as a "totally wrong" one. These words are nowhere near what
Armenia and the Armenian diaspora would like, however.
The latter want Ankara to finally admit that the killing 90 years
ago of some 1.5 Christian Armenians under the Young Turks nationalist
government - considered by many historians a trial run of the Holocaust
20 years later by the Nazis - was a "genocide". Several Western states
have officially said that the mass killings constituted an act of
genocide, thereby raising the ire of Ankara. A law recently introduced
in France punishes denial of it with time in prison. Things may be
changing now, however. On Thursday, for the first time since 2009,
Davutoglu met with his Armenian counterpart Eduard Nalbandian in
Yerevan. Some analysts say that Islamic prime minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan may make a significant gesture on the issue by 2015, ahead
of the 100th anniversary of the killings. There are no diplomatic
relations between Armenia and Turkey and the borders between the two
countries are closed. In addition to the genocide issue, there is
also the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian enclave
in Azerbaijan, rendering relations between the neighboring countries
difficult. In 2009, Turkey and Armenia signed a normalization agreement
calling for diplomatic relations and the opening of borders between
the two countries that was never implemented. The two countries have
traded accusations of not complying with the agreement, leaving things
exactly as they were before. (ANSAmed).
http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/politics/2013/12/13/Turkey-thaw-relations-Armenia-genocide-issue_9776030.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
ANSA Med, Italy
Dec 13 2013
FM calls 1915 deportations an 'inhumane' act
(ANSAmed) - ANKARA - After the tensions and repeated crises of
the past two years with its neighbors Iraq, Iran, and Russia as a
result of the Syrian conflict, Turkey is now trying to conduct more
conciliatory regional foreign policy in its relations with Armenia.
Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who visited Yerevan Thursday
for the first time since 2009 - when the two countries made an
initial, failed attempt at normalizing relations - made a significant
gesture on the still highly sensitive issue of the 1915-17 Armenian
genocide. The Turkish minister admitted that the deportations of
hundreds of thousands of Armenians in the Turkey of those times,
in the last years of the Ottoman empire, were an "inhumane act"
as well as a "totally wrong" one. These words are nowhere near what
Armenia and the Armenian diaspora would like, however.
The latter want Ankara to finally admit that the killing 90 years
ago of some 1.5 Christian Armenians under the Young Turks nationalist
government - considered by many historians a trial run of the Holocaust
20 years later by the Nazis - was a "genocide". Several Western states
have officially said that the mass killings constituted an act of
genocide, thereby raising the ire of Ankara. A law recently introduced
in France punishes denial of it with time in prison. Things may be
changing now, however. On Thursday, for the first time since 2009,
Davutoglu met with his Armenian counterpart Eduard Nalbandian in
Yerevan. Some analysts say that Islamic prime minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan may make a significant gesture on the issue by 2015, ahead
of the 100th anniversary of the killings. There are no diplomatic
relations between Armenia and Turkey and the borders between the two
countries are closed. In addition to the genocide issue, there is
also the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian enclave
in Azerbaijan, rendering relations between the neighboring countries
difficult. In 2009, Turkey and Armenia signed a normalization agreement
calling for diplomatic relations and the opening of borders between
the two countries that was never implemented. The two countries have
traded accusations of not complying with the agreement, leaving things
exactly as they were before. (ANSAmed).
http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/politics/2013/12/13/Turkey-thaw-relations-Armenia-genocide-issue_9776030.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress