Armenian president replies to letter from Prime Minister Erdogan. Despite Erdogan's suggestion of forming a commission of historians from both Armenia and Turkey to study the so-called Armenian genocide, Kocharian put a very different choice on the table. 'The political atmosphere should be prepared for dialogue,' says Kocharian in his letter. And he proposes the formation of an intergovernmental commission to study all the problems between two countries.
Armenian President Robert Kocharian last week sent a reply to the recent letter of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggesting the formation of a commission by Armenian and Turkish historians to study the so-called Armenian genocide.
But Kocharian, in his letter which arrived in Ankara on Tuesday, proposed a very different kind of commission. Underlining that it was politicians' responsibility to foster an atmosphere for dialogue, the Armenian president suggested the formation of an “intergovernmental commission” between Armenia and Turkey.
“From the very beginning of the establishment of Armenia, we extended our hands to open the border, to establish relations and to start a dialogue with Turkey,” he wrote in his letter.
Citing the example of European countries employing dialogue to solve their mutual problems after World War II, Kocharian said that Turkey and Armenia could also take similar steps. “A very difficult period was experienced on the European continent,” he wrote. “But this did not prevent the opening of the borders between countries. They continued to talk about the events that separated them.”
After these opening remarks, Kocharian touched on the recent letter of Erdogan. “Your suggestion of discussing the past cannot be effective if it does not include a discussion of the current situation and the future of relations between our countries,” Kocharian wrote. “The political atmosphere should be prepared for the dialogue. To move mutual relations forward is the duty of the politicians. We cannot leave this responsibility to the historians."
The specific proposal of Kocharian came at the end of his letter. “We can establish an intergovernmental commission to study every problem between our countries and begin the discussions without any precondition,” Kocharian wrote.
The letter of the Armenian president fell short of the expectations of Ankara, according to a Turkish diplomatic source. “We're talking about very different things,” the source said. “We're talking about studying the past, Kocharian is talking about the present and the future. And he didn't mention anything about leaving the genocide claims aside.”
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week sent a letter to Kocharian saying the two countries should investigate the Armenian genocide claims together. Erdogan proposed the establishment of a common commission to investigate the Armenian genocide claims which he said would also serve to bring the two countries closer together in the future.
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Zeynep Gurcanli - Ankara