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Agence France Presse
December 26, 2014 Friday 3:29 AM GMT
Turkey, Armenia should leave genocide row 'to coming years': PM adviser
ISTANBUL, Dec 26 2014
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 recognise 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 recognised 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 harbour
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.
From: A. Papazian
December 26, 2014 Friday 3:29 AM GMT
Turkey, Armenia should leave genocide row 'to coming years': PM adviser
ISTANBUL, Dec 26 2014
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 recognise 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 recognised 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 harbour
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.
From: A. Papazian