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Turkey's FM dismisses any pressure over Armenia ties

05 March 2010 [19:15] - TODAY.AZ
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Friday Turkey would not take a decision under pressure under any circumstance.
Minister Davutoglu's comments came after the Foreign Relations Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives adopted a resolution Thursday on the incidents of 1915 that support Armenian allegations.

"We are determined to press ahead with normalisation of relations with Armenia," Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a news conference.

Turks and Armenians have lived together for 10 centuries and we regard Armenians as friends and neighbors. If we leave aside the last quarter century, we can strongly say that the 10 centuries passed in great tolerance and respect, Davutoglu underlined.

Had the Ottomans not been under attack from all sides (in 1915), certain painful incidents would not have been experienced, Davutoglu said.

"Yesterday's flippant and funny voting demonstrated that it was a wrong method and road to resolve the issue. The picture we have seen showed to the whole globe how wrong it is to judge historical incidents in parliaments. Had one vote been on the other side, history would have been shaped otherwise. How could history be made so simple? How can friendship of 10 centuries be brought to such a simple level?" Davutoglu said.

The year 1915 may be a year of "relocation" for the Armenians. The year 1915 was the year of Canakkale for the Turks. 1915 was a period when a whole (Turkish) nation was defending itself. Painful incidents were experienced in Anatolia. During that period, two million of our people had to migrate to Anatolia from the Balkans. Large numbers of individuals came to Anatolia from the Caucasus at that time. A great chaos was experienced when the (Ottoman) Empire was in a process of collapse. We have always known how to share the pain of the Turkish nation. We have tried to obtain humanitarian lessons but not political ones from these painful events, Davutoglu said.

Renewing Turkey's call for the establishment of a joint historical committee, Minister Davutoglu said that the two sides should talk face to face and share archives.

Let us get together and talk about how we have lived the past 9.5 centuries. Let us get together so that we can be a good role model to our grand-children and future generations, Davutoglu said.

"Turkey will not make a decision under pressure under any conditions. It is crucial for all to understand this. We have signed protocols with Armenia within this perspective. We desired to share our pains and establish a fair memory. We wanted to leave a nice legacy to the future generations. However, despite our (positive) efforts and intentions, we feel suspicions about the real intentions of sides when parliaments pass resolutions on historical issues," Davutoglu underlined.

The normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia can be realized when the two nations sit down together and talk with each other. Interruptions by third sides make the normalization process impossible to achieve, Davutoglu said.

However, he said parliamentary ratification of peace accords with Armenia were at risk. Turkey and Armenia last year signed an historic deal to open their border.

The deal, seen as crucial to obtaining long term peace in the volatile south Caucasus region, has to be ratified by parliaments in Ankara and Yerevan.

Asked if Turkey was considering retaliatory steps against the United States or U.S. policy in areas such as Afghanistan, Davutoglu said: "This is a matter of national pride for us. We will speak with our president and our prime minister but it is too early to talk about specific measures."

Minister Davutoglu said that, following yesterday's voting in Washington, D.C., Turkish Ambassador Namik Tan has been recalled to Ankara for consultations.

U.S. Ambassador in Ankara, James Jeffrey, is currently at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs holding talks with high level Turkish diplomats.


/World Bulletin/
URL: http://www.today.az/news/regions/63307.html

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