Gul: We Had Been In A Passive Position, Now We Are In An Active Position

BISHKEK (AA) - Turkish Foreign Minister & Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Thursday that Turkey was late to take initiatives against the allegations of the so-called Armenian genocide, and stressed that organized efforts were needed to make the reality known by everybody.
     Replying to the questions of reporters, Gul said Turkey was late to take initiatives against the allegations in question. Gul said that the Armenian issue was even used as a means in domestic policy in some countries to wear out the government.
     Gul said his government would deploy efforts to prevent any process against Turkey and to make the parliaments step back from making wrong decisions.
     Stating the decision made in Belgium as an example, Gul said, ''can you imagine? They can make such accusations by taking into consideration just misinformation and lies. We should inform them correctly. We should struggle against them.''
     Gul said that academicians and NGOs also had a crucial role in telling the truths to the world regarding Armenian claims, noting that ''only if we can start a civilized fight against these claims, we can correct the mistakes.''
     Upon a question, Gul said that all the archives in Turkey were opened and the views of Turkey were supported in many platforms including the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
     Gul said ''Turkey which had assumed a passive policy till today is now in an active position.''
     Gul said that Turkey evaluated the letter of Armenian President Robert Kocharian in a comprehensive way and regarded it optimistically.
     (AY-֓-ULG)
2005-05-05