We need to be able to draw lessons from history’s negative and positive aspects in the name of humanity.
It is absolutely essential that dialogue be established between Turks and Armenians to achieve understanding, a top Armenian-American spiritual leader has said, adding that Turkey’s foreign minister solicited his views on increasing such discussion.
“Turkish and Armenian people are members of the same family,” Archbishop Khajag Barsamyan, the primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern), told the Hurriyet Daily News during a brief visit to Istanbul last week. “We ought to view history with courage and [learn] to apologize if we have been in the wrong. We need to be able to draw lessons from history’s negative and positive aspects in the name of humanity.”
A planned international gathering to celebrate the opening of the Surp Giragos Armenian church in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır will present a chance to establish such dialogue, Barsamyan said.
During the World Political Forum in mid-March, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu spoke favorably regarding the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border, Barsamyan said, adding that he was ready for any steps taken in the direction of establishing dialogue.
Barsamyan said Davutoglu had asked him for suggestions about how to establish dialogue with the diaspora.
“I highlighted the significance of opening the sealed Turkish-Armenian border and instituting trade [ties] with Armenian business people from the diaspora,” he said, adding that he had also spoken to President Abdullah Gul about the same issues back when Gul was foreign minister.
“Mr. Gul requested advice from me about how to put Turkish-Armenian relations in order. I told him that Armenians have deep-running sorrows, and that these sorrows must be listened to without denial, or going on the defensive,” Barsamyan said.
“Davutoglu said Turkish and Armenian people lived together for centuries. [He added that] vexing events have occurred in history and touched upon the significance of putting an end to these and looking forward. He said the diaspora Armenians are the people of this land,” Barsamyan said.
“I reminded him that the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan took great risks in signing the [2009 Turkish-Armenian normalization] protocols despite all the reaction both from within [Armenia,] as well as from the diaspora, and I asked him why the protocols were not realized. Mr. Davutoglu said there was need for a process, and that steps taken [in this direction] must produce solutions, not new problems,” the archbishop said.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
