ISTANBUL - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said late on Friday that they did not want to break ties with Armenia, stating that they wanted to protect ties.
Erdogan attended a conference ``The New Atlantic Alliance At a New Crossroads`` jointly organized by Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) and U.S. think-tank organization German Marshall Fund.
When asked how Kurdish people who wanted to establish a federal formation in Iraq were considered, Erdogan said that Turkey did not have any concern based on any ethnic factor.
Erdogan noted that Turkey had only concern over Iraq and stated, ``we want that territorial integrity of Iraq should be respected. Any ethnic component should not sovereign over another ethnic component in Iraq. We should accept that resources of Iraq belong to Iraqi people. People living there should also accept it.``
Replying to a question on bringing democracy to the Middle East, Erdogan said that people in the region should determine their own fate and future.
Replying to a question on his view on relations between Turkey and Armenia, Erdogan said that they wanted peace and they were walking on this path. ``We have been extending efforts to remove offense with our neighbors,`` he noted.
Stating that if Armenia continued to deal with so-called genocide issue, it could not get any result, Erdogan said that historians should deal with the issue.
(EÖ-BRC) 26.06.2004