 |
In Bern, Gül voices Turkey’s commitment to Armenia ties
“It is evident that these subjects are not easily resolved,” Gül said on Thursday, the first day of his visit, as he was addressing the Swiss parliament, the lower house of which is among a number of European parliaments that have recognized the killings of Anatolian Armenians in the early 20th century as genocide.
Turkey categorically denies genocide charges, saying there were deaths on both sides as the Ottoman Empire tried to end an Armenian revolt in collaboration with the Russian army that was then invading eastern Anatolia.
“However, we maintain our firm vigorous commitment to the protocols, which aim to normalize Turkish-Armenian relationship,” he said, referring to pacts signed between the two parties last October in Zurich. “We will continue our efforts so that a sustainable and comprehensive peace dominates the Caucasus,” he added.
Gül expressed hope that his Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sarksyan “continues with the same courage so that the process can be crowned with success.”
Switzerland last year mediated between Armenia and Turkey, which have had no formal ties since 1993, leading to the signing of two protocols to restore diplomatic ties and open their border as a first step towards ending decades of hostility stemming from the killings of Armenians during World War I.
But the process came to a standstill after the two sides accused each other of modifying the texts of the protocols, and Turkish leaders began to link progress in the normalization efforts to progress in ties between Armenia and Azerbaijan, a close ally and a key energy supplier for Turkey that opposes Turkish-Armenian rapprochement unless Yerevan takes steps to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.
In a speech welcoming Gül, Swiss President Doris Leuthard also urged Turkey and Armenia to push ahead with normalizing ties. “Switzerland is persuaded that there must not be a retreat before any efforts to continue the track of dialogue and cooperation, as Turkey and Armenia have undertaken with great courage these last years,” Leuthard said. “May the process of normalization continue between the two countries,” she added.
Speaking at a joint press conference later in the day, both Gül and Leuthard addressed questions concerning the almost one-year-old nationwide vote in favor of banning the construction of minarets in Switzerland.
“Everybody is free to perform their religious practices. While this is the case, I would also like to see more freedom for places of religious worship,” Gül said when reminded that he called the ban a “shame” for Switzerland at the time. “Either a church, mosque or a synagogue; architectural styles may be formed in a way to be integrated with the city if there are members of that religion. A minaret is nothing to be afraid of,” he said.
Along with Leuthard, Gül on Friday participated in a round-table business meeting and a forum on renewable energies before departing for Turkey. “As some commentators appropriately stated, Turkey has now become the healthiest man of Europe,” Gül said, in an apparent reference to the fact that Turkey’s forerunner, the Ottoman Empire, was at the time described as “the sick man of Europe,” prior to its collapse after World War I.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BÜLENT KENEŞ |  |
||
| What befell Niyazi-i Misri in the past is happening to Fethullah Gülen now | |||
| EKREM DUMANLI |  |
||
| When a call for fairness and reason finds acceptance | |||
| ŞAHİN ALPAY |  |
||
| Uludere, test case for democracy in Turkey | |||
| EMRE USLU |  |
||
| Are the Kurds mentally divorced from Turkey? | |||
| GÖKHAN BACIK |  |
||
| Erdoğan, Gül and Davutoğlu: the inner bargain on Turkish foreign policy | |||
| MARKAR ESAYAN |  |
||
| Taking lessons from previous experiences with the military | |||
| YAVUZ BAYDAR |  |
||
| Qualm | |||
| ÖMER TAŞPINAR |  |
||
| A new phase in Syria? | |||
| İHSAN DAĞI |  |
||
| Turkish foreign policy: Time for a re-evaluation | |||
| SEYFETTİN GÜRSEL |  |
||
| Poor-friendly economic growth and the AK Party | |||
| CHARLOTTE MCPHERSON |  |
||
| Missing women, missing opportunities | |||
| BERK ÇEKTİR |  |
||
| Changes to incentives for investment in Turkey | |||
| MERVE BÜŞRA ÖZTÜRK |  |
||
| The 1960 coup: a final test for democracy | |||
| AMANDA PAUL |  |
||
| Ukraine: a lost country | |||
| MÜMTAZER TÜRKÖNE |  |
||
| The 52nd anniversary of May 27 | |||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
