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TURKEY, ARMENIA SHOULD SHELVE GENOCIDE ROW: TURKISH OFFICIAL
The China Post
Dec 26 2014
By Stuart Williams, AFP
December 27, 2014, 12:02 am TWN
ISTANBUL, Turkey--Turkey and Armenia should not expect to resolve a
long-running dispute over the mass killing of Armenians in World War
I on the 100th anniversary of the tragedy in 2015, a top adviser to
the prime minister said.
Armenia and its diaspora want Turkey to recognize the mass killings
of Armenians in the final years of the Ottoman Empire from 1915 as
genocide, something Turkey has so far vehemently resisted.
Etyen Mahcupyan, who is himself a member of Turkey's Armenian minority,
told AFP in an interview that 2015 would be a "tough year" because of
the anniversary and major breakthroughs would have to wait for later.
"I believe symbolic steps could be taken this year and a more emotional
relationship could be established," said Mahcupyan, who is a senior
adviser to Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
"But I believe more political or historical issues will be left to
the coming years and then it will be easier," he added.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered an unprecedented
expression of condolence for the massacres in April when he was still
prime minister, describing the killings as "our shared pain."
But this went nowhere near far enough for Armenians, who want the
deaths of an estimated 1.5 million people recognized as a campaign
of genocide ordered by the top security leadership of the Ottoman
Empire from 1915-1916.
Mahcupyan, one of very few Armenians to have held a government post,
said the priority for the future should be establishing relations
with Armenia as well as the millions-strong diaspora, many of whom
harbor a deep hatred of Turkey.
"I don't think we need to hurry 100 years on. What happens later on
should proceed more healthily," he said.
Armenia will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the massacres on
April 24, the date when in 1915 hundreds of Armenians were rounded
up and later massacred in Constantinople (now Istanbul) marking the
start of the killings.
Pointing to the striking "rapprochement" in relations between Russia
and Turkey over the last months, Mahcupyan said Moscow could play a
role "that facilitates this issue," he said.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/international/middle-east/2014/12/27/424989/Turkey-Armenia.htm
The China Post
Dec 26 2014
By Stuart Williams, AFP
December 27, 2014, 12:02 am TWN
ISTANBUL, Turkey--Turkey and Armenia should not expect to resolve a
long-running dispute over the mass killing of Armenians in World War
I on the 100th anniversary of the tragedy in 2015, a top adviser to
the prime minister said.
Armenia and its diaspora want Turkey to recognize the mass killings
of Armenians in the final years of the Ottoman Empire from 1915 as
genocide, something Turkey has so far vehemently resisted.
Etyen Mahcupyan, who is himself a member of Turkey's Armenian minority,
told AFP in an interview that 2015 would be a "tough year" because of
the anniversary and major breakthroughs would have to wait for later.
"I believe symbolic steps could be taken this year and a more emotional
relationship could be established," said Mahcupyan, who is a senior
adviser to Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
"But I believe more political or historical issues will be left to
the coming years and then it will be easier," he added.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered an unprecedented
expression of condolence for the massacres in April when he was still
prime minister, describing the killings as "our shared pain."
But this went nowhere near far enough for Armenians, who want the
deaths of an estimated 1.5 million people recognized as a campaign
of genocide ordered by the top security leadership of the Ottoman
Empire from 1915-1916.
Mahcupyan, one of very few Armenians to have held a government post,
said the priority for the future should be establishing relations
with Armenia as well as the millions-strong diaspora, many of whom
harbor a deep hatred of Turkey.
"I don't think we need to hurry 100 years on. What happens later on
should proceed more healthily," he said.
Armenia will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the massacres on
April 24, the date when in 1915 hundreds of Armenians were rounded
up and later massacred in Constantinople (now Istanbul) marking the
start of the killings.
Pointing to the striking "rapprochement" in relations between Russia
and Turkey over the last months, Mahcupyan said Moscow could play a
role "that facilitates this issue," he said.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/international/middle-east/2014/12/27/424989/Turkey-Armenia.htm