Can Dundar, a columnist in Milliyet daily comments on the recent developments between Turkey and Armenia regarding the Armenian claims of genocide in his article titled ''Politics Defeated by History.''
Dundar writes in his article that Turkey has recently changed its policy on Turkish-Armenian dispute and comments that ''at last Turkey has realized that it can't stay deaf to the Armenian genocide claims voiced in the world, anymore.''
''Turkey has launched a counter attack against those claims, started to re-scan all of its archives and publish many documents on the issue,'' Dundar says, approving those initiatives of Turkey.
Referring to the reply of Armenian President Kocharian to Prime Minister Erdogan's letter, Dundar says ''in his reply to Erdogan's proposal (of forming a joint commission) Kocharian said this would be leaving the responsibility of bilateral relations to historians; and instead, he proposed first of all to have normal diplomatic relations between the two countries. Erdogan replied to that, saying 'we should first sort out the historical problems', urging Armenia to open all of its archives.''
Dundar comments in his article that ''these remarks of the two leaders show that Turkey and Armenia changed their earlier positions. Armenians, who had earlier urged Turkey to recognize the so-called genocide first to normalize diplomatic relations, now wants to have diplomatic relations with Turkey first and deal with the genocide issue later. Turkey argues the contrary now.''
Dundar says this new policy (or counter attack) of Turkey has some problems, too. ''Turkey's thesis of denying the genocide allegations by investigating and publishing historical documents doesn't stop various countries' parliaments from adopting 'so-called genocide resolutions' one after another. However Ankara still try to comfort itself saying that President Bush hasn't mentioned the word 'genocide,' but just used the word 'massacre' in his speech on April 24th. Turkey, which is far more behind Armenians in lobbying, can't be successful in this new policy.''
''What is more important is that Ankara which has the chance of eliminating or at least decreasing the influence of Armenian diaspora by having direct relations with Yerevan, turns down this chance and pushes Yerevan to assume the same stance as the Diaspora,'' Dundar says.
''Challenge can sometimes be a good tactic in foreign policy, but a permanent method that can yield fruitful results is to take brave steps and prevent the past from being an obstacle for the future. Starting diplomatic relations and opening border gates will both start dialogue between the two peoples, and it will also decrease the pressure of the world on Turkey. We need politicians who can take the risk of a new start,'' Dundar summarizes his views in the last paragraph of his article.