Babacan: Armenia ties could counter genocide resolutions

Turks appear likely to push regional diplomacy in tripartite UN talks

Turkish President Abdullah Gul arrives in Baku, Azerbaijan, yesterday. Gul recently made an historic trip to neighboring Armenia, raising hopes that the two sides can overcome their traditional enmity.

ANKARA (AP) – If Turkey and Armenia forge diplomatic ties and are seen to have good relations, other countries could well stop passing resolutions that accuse Ottoman Turks of genocide against their Armenian population during World War I, Turkey’s foreign minister said yesterday.

Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said in a television interview that after the Turkish president’s breakthrough visit to Armenia on Saturday, the two countries had stepped up efforts to resolve their differences.

Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed in 1915-18 in Ottoman Turkey in what is widely regarded as the first genocide of the 20th century. About 20 parliaments have passed resolutions to this effect.

Turkey denies any genocide, saying the death toll has been inflated and the dead were victims of civil war and unrest.

Turkey lobbies vigorously whenever a legislature handles a bill that describes the mass killings as an act of genocide. Last year President George W. Bush narrowly prevented the passage of a nonbinding resolution to that effect in the US Congress. He warned lawmakers that it would imperil Turkey’s logistic support for US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in protest over its support for Armenians fighting for the secession of Nagorno-Karabakh from Azerbaijan, a Turkish ally. In addition, Armenian nationalists claim the Mount Ararat region of Turkey as western Armenia. But the most contested problem is the massacre of Armenians in the final years of the Ottoman Empire.

“If we manage to make rapid progress in our initiative to solve the problems,” Babacan told the local channel NTV, “then there will be no need for third-country parliaments to discuss these issues. We can tell them: ‘Mind your own business. Armenia and Turkey are getting along well.’” He declined to say which problem the two governments would tackle first, saying all the issues must be laid on the table.

Armenia “has a solution-focused position,” Babacan said. “There is political will on both sides for a solution.”

He added he might take part in a tripartite meeting with the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers on the sidelines of the upcoming UN General Assembly in New York.

Turkey’s closure of its border with landlocked Armenia is known to have hurt the smaller country’s economy. But Babacan said Turkey and Armenia were still conducting trade worth US$500 million a year, with the goods traveling through Georgia.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) accused the country’s largest news organization yesterday of “media terror” in its coverage of corruption allegations, prompting debate about press freedom in the European Union candidate.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused media magnate Aydin Dogan of using his newspapers and television channels to defame the government and the AKP with reports of alleged corruption and gave him a one-week ultimatum to reveal his motives for the coverage.

“We openly express as the AK Party that we will not bow to the blackmail of any media organization. We condemn media terror,” AKP deputy chairman Dengir Mir Mehmet Firat told a news conference, adding that Erdogan’s words were not aimed at curbing media freedom.

“The media is limited by ethical as well as legal principles,” the influential party member said.

The European Union has been looking closely at questions such as press freedom and human rights in Turkey as part of entry negotiations.