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Finnish President Halonen Refuses to Recognize Armenian Allegations |
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Wednesday, 28 September 2005Kezban TUNCOVA, YEREVAN (JTW) During her visit to Armenia on Tuesday, Finland President Tarja Halonen found herself in the middle of a discussion on the sensitive issue of the so-called Armenian massacres. Armenians argue that the 1915 Relocation Decision of the Ottoman Empire was a genocide and Turkey should admit it. However Turkey has never accepted the allegations. Turkish historians say the 1915 Relocation Campaign was a measure to prevent Armenian attacks against the Ottoman Army. The Armenians rioted against the Istanbul Government in order tyo establish their own state. More than 520,000 Turkish people were massacred by the Armenian armed groups during the First World War.
The discussion took place soon after the Finnish President had laid a wreath at a monument to the victims of the 1915 events in the Armenian capital Yerevan. Armenian journalists asked the Finnish President if she would publicly recognise the 1915 events as a genocide.
Finnish President Halonen avoided a direct response to the questions, saying instead "We are building a common future with Armenia". According to the President, Finland is not in the habit of giving recognition to historical events. She said that every generation has the right to re-examine history, and every country has a right to its own history. She added that countries should not become prisoners of history. Similarly Turkish prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan had called the Armenian side to establish a joint committee to discuss the historical disputes between Turkey and Armenia. However the Armenian FM Oskanian rejected the offer. Turkey also says both countries should focus on today and current problems instead of obsessively focusing on the past. Dr. Sedat Laciner from Ankara based Turkish think-tank USAK ÔÇô ISRO (International Strategic Research Organization) said "we should not sacrifice today for the past. Both sides made mistakes in the past and we cannot change the history. But we can construct the future together".
Finnish package tours to Armenia have already begun this year. Currently, a fifth fairly small group of Finnish tourists are in Yerevan.
On Tuesday President Halonen held talks with Armenian President Robert Kochharian and other politicians on trade, Armenian-Turkish relations, the dispute over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as Turkey's possible membership in the European Union.
The same issues came up when Halonen, who received an honorary doctorate, spoke to students at Yerevan State University. The Finnish President defended Turkish EU membership, which Armenia opposes, because of Turkey's support for Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. She said that Turkish EU membership would benefit the whole region, including Armenia. On the question of Nagorno-Karabakh - an ethnically Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan - Halonen offered the autonomous status of Finland's +àland Islands as a model. A fiery-eyed student responded: "Azerbaijan is not Sweden".
Armenia has occupied almost 20 percent of Azerbaijani territories for more than a decade and the EU and the OSCE named Armenia as ÔÇÝoccupier' in the Karabakh. Armenia also does not recognize Turkey's and Azerbaijan's national borders.
Dr. Kamil Aga told to the JTW that Turkey's EU membership will be very usefull in solving the regional problems in the region:
"The old order has to be changed in the Caucasus. The economical and political structure of the Caucaus should be integrated into the European and Western systems. And an EU member-Turkey could play a vital role in doing so. Armenia right now has border problems and the irredentist Armenian groups manipulate the Armenian politics. Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijain and Armenia should integrate their economies. However the Karabakh issue prevent any development. As the EU and the US urge the Yerevan, Armenia should withdraw from the occupied territories."
Journal of Turkish Weekly (JTW) with news agencies
28 September 2005
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Wednesday, 28 September 2005
Finland and Armenia
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