VZCZCXRO5063
PP RUEHAG RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ
RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHAK #2287 1161023
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 261023Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5096
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS ANKARA 002287 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY: MFA REACTION TO PRESIDENT BUSH'S ARMENIAN 
REMEMBRANCE DAY STATEMENT 
 
 
¶1.  Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Namik Tan made the 
following statement April 25, in reply to a question about 
President Bush's Armenian Remembrance Day statement. 
Informal Embassy translation follows: 
 
Begin Text 
 
&This year, as every year, the U.S. President continued the 
practice of issuance of a written statement on April 24 on 
the occasion of &Armenian Remembrance Day.8 
 
Naturally it is not possible for us to share some assessments 
in the above mentioned statement. 
 
History can only be written and evaluated on the basis of 
official documents that have undisputed authenticity.  In 
this process, the source to be approached is archives. 
 
Only in this way can the disputed part of the joint history 
of Turkish and Armenian people be studied scientifically and 
an evaluation can only be made under the light of all 
findings. 
 
From this aspect, our proposal to enable studying 1915 
incidents, together with the developments before and after, 
by a joint history committee, and sharing the findings with 
the public, is an initiative that should be supported, since 
it will both cast light on this controversial period of 
history and help normalization of relations between the two 
countries.  We regard references in the statement to the view 
of establishment of joint committees, a positive element.8 
 
End Text. 
 
Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ 
 
WILSON