NO BREAKTHROUGH IN SECRET TURKISH-ARMENIAN TALKS
The New Anatolian, Turkey
May 31 2006
Secret talks between Turkey and Armenia, launched after Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote a letter to Armenian President Robert
Kocharian, have failed to make any headway coming out of their third
round, said media reports yesterday.
A part of the third session of secret talks was held on the sidelines
of the Turkey-European Union Troika meeting in Vienna, Austria last
March. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul closely followed the meetings
with Armenian officials that were kept secret from the media,
CNN-Turk reported.
Sources say that the Armenian response reached Ankara early this
month to Turkey’s suggestion for the establishment of two committees
to discuss mutual relations wasn’t welcomed, and the answer “to the
Turkish suggestions that they received was watered down.”
The Turkish side had proposed the establishment of two committees to
simultaneously hold talks on political issues and the Armenian genocide
allegations. In response, Yerevan rejected the Turkish suggestions,
stating that holding discussions about the “genocide” would make the
controversial issue debatable. It underlined that scholars can debate
the issue in conferences. Nevertheless Armenia did request the revival
of political talks between the two countries.
Following Yerevan’s objection to the establishment of the two
committees, including one comprised of historians from both countries
to study the Armenian genocide claims, Ankara is now preparing for
the fourth round of secret talks.
Foreign Ministry officials underlined that continued debates over
the genocide claims have “poisoned” Turkey’s relations with other
countries. Ankara will continue to exert effort to find a middle
ground and to solve its problems with Yerevan, they added.