Armenian President proposes setting up intergovernmental commission with Turkey
Recent exchange between the two countries provides EU with opportunity to address its Turkish-Armenian quandary.
By Nicolas Tavitian, Inside Europe, 27/4/2005
In a letter dated April 25, Armenian President Robert Kotcharian wrote to his Turkish counterpart to invite him to "establish normal relations between the two countries". The letter is an answer to an offer by Turkish Prime Minister Regip Tayyip Erdogan to set up a commission of historians on the 1915 genocide. In his reponse, Kotcharyan emphasizes the need to "address the present and the future" as well and advocates in favour of "open borders, normal relations, diplomatic ties, representatives in each other's capitals, even as [we] continue to discuss that which divides [us]". His offer to set up an intergovernmental commission would not put the genocide up for historical debate but would open a dialogue at the state level.
Erdogan's letter was sent to Kotcharyan shortly before the April 24 commemorations of the genocide, in an apparent attempt to deflect some of the stigma generated in Europe by his country's continued denial of the Armenian genocide of 1915. Recognition of the genocide by Turkey is not a formal precondition to Turkey's entering the EU. However, Turkey's position is said to be contributing to opposition to Turkish EU membership among sections of the European public, and, in France at least, to opposition to the EU itself.
Kotcharyan's letter is significant in that it provides the EU with an opportunity to push for an institutionalised dialogue between Armenia and Turkey. Though the EU has called for the establishment of relations between Armenia and Turkey in the past, it has failed to use its considerable leverage to press for progress on this front.
QUOTE: LETTER FROM ARMENIAN PRESIDENT KOTCHARYAN TO TURKISH PRIME MINISTER ERDOGAN
April 25, 2005
H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Prime Minister
Republic of Turkey
Ankara
Dear Prime Minister,
I'm in receipt of your letter. Indeed, as two neighbors, we both must work to find ways to live together in harmony. That is why, from the first day, we have extended our hand to you to establish relations, open the border, and thus start a dialogue between the two countries and two peoples.
There are neighboring countries, particularly on the European continent, who have had a difficult past, about which they differ. However, that has not stopped them from having open borders, normal relations, diplomatic ties, representatives in each other's capitals, even as they continue to discuss that which divides them.
Your suggestion to address the past cannot be effective if it deflects from addressing the present and the future. In order to engage in a useful dialog, we need to create the appropriate and conducive political environment. It is the responsibility of governments to develop bilateral relations and we do not have the right to delegate that responsibility to historians. That is why we have proposed and propose again that, without pre-conditions, we establish normal relations between our two countries.
In that context, an intergovernmental commission can meet to discuss any and all outstanding issues between our two nations, with the aim of resolving them and coming to an understanding.
Sincerely,
Robert Kocharian
