Ankara’s ongoing efforts to normalize its relations with Yerevan are not limited to a state-to-state framework, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said, adding that Turkey wants a reconciliation process that also involves the Armenian diaspora living in Europe and the United States.
Davutoğlu said Turks and Armenians “in Paris and Boston” should sit together and attempt to reconcile their memories of the tragic events that took place in 1915, which Armenians consider a systematic extermination campaign but which Turks insist were merely terrible deaths resulting from the collapse of an empire, The Boston Globe reported on Wednesday.The minister’s remarks came as he was delivering a speech and responding to questions from reporters at the Washington office of the Council on Foreign Relations on Wednesday.
“We are ready to listen to our Armenian friends concerning our history,” Davutoğlu was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency. He said no one should unilaterally impose his/her own memory on the other side, recalling that 2 million Turks were forced to migrate from the Balkans and the Caucasus to Anatolia as those territories became independent from the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the last century.
Turkey rejects Armenian claims of genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire and says Turks and Armenians were both killed as Armenians revolted against the Ottoman Empire in collaboration with the Russian army with the aim of establishing an Armenian state in eastern Anatolia.
Davutoğlu’s remarks in Washington echoed his concept of “just memory.” In the past, he has said that procedures envisioned by protocols signed in October between Armenia and Turkey for establishing diplomatic ties and reopening their border will eventually help achieve “a just memory” concerning the tragedy in Anatolia during World War I.
One of the two protocols signed by Ankara and Yerevan in October says the two countries have agreed to “implement a dialogue on the historical dimension with the aim of restoring mutual confidence between the two nations, including an impartial scientific examination of historical records and archives to define existing problems and formulate recommendations.”
“1915 is the year of the so-called genocide for them,” Davutoğlu was quoted as saying by The Boston Globe. “For us, we say ‘pain.’ We are ready to discuss. The same year, we had Gallipoli,” he said.
The 1915 Battle of Gallipoli was won by the defending Ottoman army against a joint British and French campaign and laid the groundwork for the Turkish War of Independence and the foundation of the Turkish Republic eight years later under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
Davutoğlu said one of his grandfathers died at Gallipoli, underscoring the emotion that many Turks feel about that campaign, The Boston Globe reported.
Also Wednesday, Davutoğlu held a meeting in Washington with Turkey’s ambassadors to Washington and Ottawa and consul-generals in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and Toronto. Davutoğlu ordered the diplomats to engage in dialogue with the Armenian diaspora and strengthen this dialogue, the agency said. It is not possible to finalize the normalization of bilateral relations with Armenia without having the Armenian diaspora involved in this process, diplomatic sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Anatolia. The same sources highlighted that Turkey would prioritize contact with Armenian groups who are open to dialogue, indicating that dialogue with hard-line groups was not a priority for Turkey, at least at the moment.
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