Press Release  by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

of the  Republic of Turkey

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has officially conveyed his proposal to establish a joint commission to study the developments and events of 1915, through a letter sent to Robert Koçaryan, President of the Republic of Armenia. In his letter, Prime Minister Erdoğan notes that although the Turkish and Armenian peoples share a common history and geography in a sensitive region of the world, and have lived together over a long period of time, they have diverging interpretations of events that took place during a particular period of their common history. Prime Minister Erdoğan underlined that these differences that have in the past left behind traces of painful memories for the two nations, continue to hamper the development of relations between the two countries today.

Prime Minister Erdoğan pointed out that these views were also shared by the leader of the Main Opposition Party, Mr. Deniz Baykal, and as a joint initiative of the governing and main opposition parties, proposed the establishment of a joint group consisting of Turkish and Armenian historians and other experts that would study the developments and events of 1915 not only in the archives of Turkey and Armenia but also in the archives of all relevant third countries and would share their findings with the international public.

In his letter, Prime Minister Erdoğan also stated that such an initiative would not only shed light on a disputed period of history but would also constitute a step towards the normalization of Turkish Armenian relations. He expressed the hope that this proposal aiming to create a friendly and more peaceful climate for future generations would meet with Armenian consent and that Turkey would be prepared to discuss the details of this proposal  should it receive a favorable response from Armenia.