Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

Turkey says seeking better ties with Armenia
by Elif Unal
Posted: Monday, January 15, 2001 07:24 pm CST

ANKARA, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Turkey is exploring ways to improve ties with neighbour Armenia in the hope of heading off Western parliamentary resolutions accusing Turks of massacring Armenians 85 years ago, a Turkish official said on Wednesday.

Ankara believes Yerevan enjoys strong influence over the Armenian diaspora that has promoted resolutions in the U.S. Congress as well as the Italian, French and European parliaments.

"(The administration)...gave consent for a plan to win over Armenia," the official told Reuters. "A Turkish step to drain the swamp instead of killing the mosquito is the right thing to do."

He gave no details. But Armenia, a landlocked country now heavily dependent on Russian help, would benefit greatly from a freer opening to markets in Turkey and beyond.

NOT MUCH HOPE ON FRANCE'S GENOCIDE BILL

The foreign affairs committee in the French National Assembly on Wednesday approved a bill formally recognising a mass killing of Armenians. The bill is scheduled to go before the full assembly, the lower house next week.

Turkey warned France on Tuesday that adoption of the bill would severely harm ties between the NATO allies.

"There is not much hope. We understand the French parliament will pass the bill," a second Turkish official said. He declined to elaborate on what counter measures Turkey could take then.

The European Parliament passed a resolution late last year formally accusing Turks of genocide against Armenians during the turmoil of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

Turkey angrily denies the accusations and says both sides suffered losses during partisan fighting in 1915.

A Turkish plan to win Armenian cooperation would need Armenian readiness. The Turkish side had begun looking into this through low-level diplomatic contacts, the second official said.

"This (plan) has two parts. The first part is about what can be done to improve ties with Armenia and the second to provide a proper structure to handle this (genocide) issue," He said. Historians and not politicians should discuss the issue.

Much could depend on resolution of a dispute between Turkish ally Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh -- a largely Armenian-populated area of Azerbaijan which began pressing for autonomy in 1988.

Thousands died in fighting there. A ceasefire has been holding but no final agreement has been reached over the territory, now effectively beyond Baku's control.

Turkey has no diplomatic relations with Yerevan. Last year, after a U.S. House of Representatives panel approved a genocide motion, it stopped giving visas to Armenian citizens at the border, obliging them to apply to Turkish consulates abroad.

The upper assembly later dropped the resolution after Turkey threatened counter measures that President Bill Clinton said could damage U.S. security interests in the Middle East.

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