Last week, Ankara asked Iran for clarification following reports of comments made by Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Vice President Hamid Baghaei that characterized the killings of Anatolian Armenians during World War I as genocide. Reports said that Baghaei said Turkey was guilty of genocide against the Armenians in 1915. “Baghaei’s reports have not been reported faithfully by some media organs,” Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization said in a statement.
The Anatolia news agency reported Saturday that the statement said, “Baghaei, without making any analysis and without declaring a specific view, has pointed out that there is an issue like this between Turkey and Armenia.”
On Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu telephoned his Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki, and demanded an explanation. Baghaei’s reported remarks came on Wednesday during a conference in Tehran marking the 70th anniversary of the invasion of Iran during the World War II.
Baghaei allegedly drew a parallel between that event and the killing of Armenians decades earlier. Iranian officials later said Baghaei’s comments were taken out of context and that he was referring to World War II, not to World War I, and that Iran’s official position on the Armenians is identical to that of Turkey’s. Last week, the Iranian Embassy in Ankara also released a statement saying that the remarks were not accurately quoted by several media outlets, and that Baghaei had only made a reference in his speech to the issue dividing Turkey and Armenia and did not take a position on the subject.
