A discussion on Genocide

Anadolu Agency reports on a conference going on in Vienna: Turks And Armenians Exchange Documents To Discuss So-called Genocide Claims

I was approached about a month ago by someone wanting me to blog about this and hoping to get Armenians to take part. I declined to, because the conference itself calls the Genocide into question. Would one expect Jews to attend a conference at which the holocaust was called into question?

I'd like to know who organised the conference, and how the findings will be reached. Is it binding on the modern state of Turkey, and is there a neutral party involved?

Sources told A.A correspondent that Turkish and Armenian authorities met in Vienna on July 16th under chairmanship of Prof. Bihl of Vienna Armenian Turkish Platform (VAT) and presented 100 documents to each other.

Turkish delegation headed by Yusuf Halacoglu, the Chairman of Turkish History Agency (TTK) gave 100 documents collected from several archives and disproving the claims that Turks carried out a genocide against the Armenians.

On the other hand, Armenian delegation handed over 199 documents to Turkish delegations regarding their own claims.

Turkish and Armenian authorities will examine these documents till the end of December 2004, and if necessary, they can present 80 more documents to each other till May 2005.

Turkish and Armenian officials will meet again in 2005 and discuss so-called genocide allegations in the light of these exchanged documents.

Posted by Matt on July 21, 2004 | TrackBack | Email to a friend