ANKARA
Armenia should accept and shake the friendly hand given by Turkey, Turkey’s EU Minister Volkan Bozkir has said Wednesday with regards to the 1915 events.
"Our aim is to move on with our Armenian brothers with whom we have been living together for 1,000 years," Bozkir said on Wednesday to the press in the northwestern province of Bursa.
Last week, the European Parliament adopted a resolution recognizing the 1915 events as "genocide." It came three days after Pope Francis also called the 1915 incidents a "genocide," drawing sharp criticism from the Turkish government.
"Ottoman archives are open. Everyone can view them," he said, emphasizing that he hoped Pope Francis would correct his statement.
Saying that the European Parliament’s recent resolution recognizing the 1915 events as "genocide" was non-binding, Bozkir added that he hoped U.S. President Barack Obama would give his usual speech on April 24 and that he would not change his words during the speech. Obama has referred to the 1915 events using the Armenian term "Yedz Meghern," meaning Great Catastrophe.
Turkey has called for the establishment of a joint commission of historians and the opening of archives to study and uncover what happened between the Ottoman Empire and its Armenian citizens.
The 1915 events took place during World War I when a portion of the Armenian population living in the Ottoman Empire sided with the invading Russians and revolted. The relocation by the Ottomans of Armenians in eastern Anatolia following the revolts resulted in numerous casualties.
Turkey does not dispute that there were deaths on both sides, but rejects the definition of "genocide."
