Speaking to Russiantelevision channel Russia Today, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey extended a peaceful hand to Armenia.
Reminding that he wrote a letter to former Armenian President Robert Kocharian and called him for establishment a joint committee of historians to search 1915 incidents, Prime Minister said that he still did not receive any answer for the letter he sent in 2005. Stressing that discussions on allegations of so called Armenian genocide should be made by historians, Erdogan said, “This is not the job of politicians. Ottomans did not commit such thing. The year 1915 iseigth years before the proclamation of republic. Those events can never be evaluated as a genocide.”
Stressing that both Turkish and Armenian people suffered of 1915 incidents, Erdogan said, “These events are clearly recorded in our archives. Our archives are open and there are more than 1 million documents. Armenia should open its archives and should let historians study on these incidents. This issue is simple as that. But they are not accepting this. And therefore, they do not have any base to accuse Turkey. We do not accept any accusation on this issue.”
Underscoring that Turkey extended a peaceful hand to Armenia as an act of goodwill, Erdogan said, “The occupation in Upper Karabakh and Azerbaijan should be ended. You can be sure that a new process will start in the region with the withdrawal of Armenia.”
